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J \ PAPAL ROME AS IT IS, 



BY 



A ROMAN; 



WITH 



AN INTRODUCTION 

BY THE 

Rev. W. C. BROWNIEE, D. D. 

Of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of New York, 

BY 

Rev. L^ GIUSTINIANI, D. D. 

Formerly a Roman Priest, now Minister of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church. * » 



^^^.:^n ry.. k,>^ 




BALTIMORE: 




PRINTED AT PUBLICATION 


ROOMS, 


N , 7 S . LIBERT Y STREET. 


1843. 




<^!a 





6^ 

r 



'^"^^^ 



Entered according to ilie Act of Congress in the year 
1843, by L. Giustiniani, D. D., in the Clerk's Office of 
the District Court of Maryland. 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Rec ommendations , 

I. Introduction of the Rev. W. C. Brownlee, D. D., 
Pastor of the Prot. Ref Dutch Church, of N. York. 

II. CREDENTiALs—Certificates from Rome, . . I 

III. The CoNTERsioNof a Roman Catholic is a great 
Miracle, . . ... . . .9 

IV. Easter, 16 

V. Narrative of the Author's First Bibhcal im- 
pression, 23 

VI. The Mass, . . . . . . . 30 

VII. Transubstantiation, 44 

VIII. Absurdities and Delusions of the Mass, 62 

IX. Heathen Rome and Papal Rome. The Pan- 
theon ; The Holy Virgin Lady of Parturition 
against the Holy Virgin Lady of the Stone ; Car- 
dinal Giustiniani at Rimini; The Holy Stairs; 
The Flying stone ; Saint Peter in Vinculis ; Colos- 
seum Romanum ; Confessional ; Saint Antony in 
Rome, 59 

X. The Opening of the Eyes of the Virgin Mary, 86 
XL Beatification of a Franciscan Friar, . . 91 

XII. The Patriarch of Egypt and the Horned 
Priest, 97 

XIII. Infallibility of the Pope, and Antiquity of 

the Church of Rome, 104 

XIV. Catholicity of the Church of Rome, . . 115 

XV. Apostolical Succession of Roman Pontiffs, 120 

XVI. Apostolical Doctrines and not the Chair 

are required as a mark of a true Church, . 125 



IV CONTEKTS. 

XVII. Adoration op Saints, . . . .128 

XVIII. Three Months in the Convent of the Cor- 
delier, 145 

XIX. Persecution, 157 

XX. Switzerland, 168 

XXI. The Foundation of the Church of Rome, 172 

XXII. Usurpation of the Church of Rome, . 177 

XXIII. Avarice the corner stone of the Church of 
Rome 183 

XXIV. Moral Corruptions of the Church of Rome, 185 

XXV. Thb Holy Councils of the Church of Rome, 194 

XXVI. Jesuitism, 218 

XXVil. Miracles, 250 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



I have had the pleasure of examining the work written 
by the Rev. Dr. Giastiniani, entitled " PAPAL PtOME 
AS IT IS, BY A ROMAN." 

Dr. G. treats of twenty-seven prominent subjects in the 
Roman Catholic system, — preceded by an account of his 
own conversion from the religion of Rome, in which he 
was born and educated, full of deep interest. On each of 
these leading articles of Romanism, he writes as one who 
knows his subject thoroughly, and feels most deeply. We 
perceive, at every step of his discussion, that we are listen- 
ing to a man, who had been a Roman Catholic " dyed in 
the wool," and who has, of course, had opportunities which 
no Protestant, perhaps, ever had of knowing the secrets be- 
hind the curtain ; and who has had feelings deep and in- 
tense, such as we never knew who never wore the mental 
chains of Popery ! He fails not to manifest the best spirit, 
and kindest sentiments, even while he is uttering the se- 
verest truths. He is anxious to reach the heart, as well 
as to gain the ear of the Roman Catholics, his former fel- 
low disciples ; over whom his heart yearns (as did that of 
St. Paul,) to win them away from " The Man of Sin" to 
** The most Holy One," — away from " The cross of Anti- 
Christ j"*^ TO THE CROSS OP ChRIST JeSUS HIS LoBD. 

His. style is not that of a polished English scholar. It 
is that of a learned Italian Doctor, who is, indeed, master 
of his own beautiful and flowing Italian, but who is writing 
iri a language foreign to him. And this, to my mind, car- 
ries with it an external evidence of the authenticity of the 
work. I therefore, beg leave to commend it to the public, 



VI RECOMMENDATIONS. 

as a work exceedingly valuable, coming from such a man ; 
and calculated, both from its mild spirit and rich materi- 
als, to do much good in opening the eyes of the Roman 
Catholics, and instructing Protestants under divine grace. 
Here is a witness from Rome, a former Priest, brought up 
under the eyes of the Pope and Cardinals, fully confirm- 
ing all that we have been asserting of Rome, for years 
past. 

W. C. BROWNLEE, 

Of the Protestant Refoi^ned Dutch Church of Jstew York. 
Mw Yorkj March 22d, 1843. 

Baltimore, March SOth, 1843. 

I have carefully read Dr. Giustiniani's manuscript and 
most cheerfully recommend the book to all persons desir- 
ous of ascertaining the character of "Popery as it is." 
The Dr. writes in a spirit of kindness and he aims at 
nothing else than an exposition of the errors which so long 
shrouded his own mind, but from which, by the grace of 
God, he has been delivered. His hope is to enlighten the 
minds of his Romish brethren in this country, in regard to 
the enormous corruptions of the system as they are mani- 
fested in a country where the purifying influence of Pro- 
testantism is not felt. 

JOHN G. MORRIS. 

I have read with great interest the larger part of a man- 
uscript submitted to me by Dr. Giustiniani, in which he 
narrates the gracious dealings of a merciful God with him 
— whereby he, being a native of Rome, and a Papal Priest, 
was brought, even in the city of Rome, to a saving know- 
ledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. The manuscript con- 
tains, moreover, short and forcible discussions of a number 
of the errors and corruptions of Popery, and descriptions 
of many places, and practices in Rome, all of which have a 
vividness and force, which nothing but personal contact 



RSCOMMEISJDATIONS. vii 

could impart. My opinion is that this work cannot fail to 
interest and instruct tlie roader— and I take much pleas- 
ure in recommending it to such as have any confidence in 
our judgment in such matters. I also add, with much sen- 
eibility, that having known the excellent author for some 
years, 1 rank him among our esteemed friends, and have 
^he utmost confidence in him as an enlightened gentleman 
and warm hearted Christian. 

ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE, 

Pastor of the Second PreshijteHan Church, JBo^iimoj-e. 
March 21th, 1«43. 

I entirely concur inthe views expressed by the Rev. Dr. 
K. J. Breckenridge, and will only add, that if Dr. G.'s 
work recei\^es the circulation and attentive perusal which 
'it deserves, it cannot fail to become the instrument of great 
D-ood in the cause of pure and scriptural religion. 

B. KURTZ. 

Baltimore, March 2Bth, 1843L 

Baltimore, March 2Sth, 1S43. 

" Papal Rome as it is,"^ briefly but faithfuJly, |»'^serits 
Romanism to view as it exists and exerts its influence, in 
twenty-seven distinct and prominent points of light. It is 
from tlie pen of a native Roman, trained from infancy in 
that fallen church — for several years a Priest officiating in 
Rome itself, an eye and ear witness of the abominations 
he describes. It is the testimony of a most competent wit- 
ness. His abandonment of Rome must have been the re- 
sult of deliberate and enlightened conviction. He took 
=every step surrounded with most imminent danger, and £gt 
the sacrifice of his worldly prospects of honor, wealth and 
power. His eye must have been single — his motive pure 
- — his aim the glory of God- His position gave him a 
■commanding view of the whole subject, and the singular 
a,rtlessnes3 and simplicity of his statements present intei- 



VIU RECOMMENDATIONS. 

nal evidence of the faithfulness of the narrative. Having 
attentively read the entire work in manuscript, I most 
unhesitatingly bespeak for it a faithful and candid perusal 
by both Protestants and Romanists. If the facts detailed 
be correct, Romanism should be at once abandoned as an 
incurable system of error, idolatry and moral pollution. 
If false, every dictate of decency, to speak of no loftier mo- 
tive, demands that its false statements be exposed and 
overthrown. My personal acquaintance with Dr. Gius- 
tiniani, commenced some three and a half years since. 
From the first, till now, I have foumd him the zealous de- 
voted christian gentleman and faithful minister of the 
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom *' I love in the 
truth," and am happy to have the honor of numbering 
among my highly valued christian friends. Let this lit- 
tle volume be read with prayerful attention and with a 
heart ready to take on the beautiful impress of truth. 

JOHN S. MITCHELL, 

•fluent of the Jlmerican and Maryland Bible Societies.. 



INTRODUCTION. 

My estimable and learned friend, the Rev. Dr. 
Giustiniani, the author of the following pages, is 
a native of Italy, born and educated in the city of 
Rome. Of course, he drank at the fountain head 
of Romanism, and imbided deeply its genuine 
spirit from his infancy. He was one of Rome's 
cherished sons. He had advantages unspeakably 
superior to those of travelers and strangers, who 
see only the exterior of Rome's religion ; and can 
detail of course nothing more than they have seen 
and heard. He is a native of Rome and was ad- 
mitted behind the curtains, and into all her secre- 
cies, and mingled with the hierophants, in all 
"the chambers of her imagery;" and was fully 
initiated into all the orders and mysteries of 
Popery as it is in Rome. Hence, with the pen- 
cil of a master spirit does he delineate Rome's 
religion and Rome's morals, with these advantages 
which few others possess. 

Bishop England and other Roman prelates, 
have delighted to call Rome " the metropolis of 
the christian world." Now, as is the fountain 
head, so must each sti^eam be that issues from it. 



X INTRODUCTION. 

Whatever may be said of the Roman Catholic re- 
ligion, it must be found in its utmost perfection, 
for good or for bad, at its fountain head, — Rome. 

When God established his throne of old, in the 
capital of his church, namely, Jerusalem, she 
was the glory of all lands, and remained so during 
her palmy days. She sent forth her salutary in- 
fluence, in her pure doctrines, her divine worship 
and by her spiritual members walking in the 
beauty of holiness over all the land. But a city 
which is the fountain head of a false and corrupt 
religion, has never ceased to send forth her pollut- 
ing streams of idolatry, superstition, unbounded 
vice and atheism ! Witness Sodom, Babylon, 
the cities of Egypt, Greece, Pagan Rome, Mecca 
and the metropolis of the modern religion. 

Of course, if modern Rome be " the metropo- 
lis of the christian world," she must be as Jeru- 
salem was, in her holy and palmiest days. She 
must be pre-eminently pure in her head and in 
her members, in her doctrines, worship and mor- 
als. But if she is the capital and throne of an 
apostate church, and an idolatrous religion, then 
is she " the land of graven images and is mad 
upon her idols." ^ And her pope and her cardi- 

'Jerem. 1. 38. 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

nals must be pre-eminently corrupt in doctrine, 
worship and morals ; like all the other leaders of 
the army of rebellion against the Lord of Hosts ! 
And thence, from her Vatican, do her hierophants 
pour forth, as through widely opened flood-gates, 
streams of pollution and death, over all the lands 
and the people who bow the knee before her altars 
and her images ! 

We need witnesses and testimony to throw still 
more light on this matter. And here we have a 
distinguished witness presenting himself before 
the public. Dr. Giustiniani comes to us from that 
fountain head Rome, to do this. He has seen all, 
examined all, and candidly tells us what he knows 
as an eye and an ear witness. He has stood as a 
favored priest in the pope's levee. He has ming- 
led with cardinals and all gradations of prelates 
and priests in "the metropolis of the Roman 
Catholic world." He comes among us with his 
" parchment" documents, with the seals of Rome 
stampt on them ; and his testimonials from Ge- 
neva, where he solemnly recanted the false reli- 
gion of Rome and made a christian profession. 
He lifts his voice of solemn warning and instruc- 
tion, and speaks with earnestness, with enlighten- 
ed zeal and ardent feelings ; chastened by com- 



Xll INTRODUCTION, 

passion and love to his benighted fellow men. 
Unwilling to exaggerate and too honest to conceal 
the truth, he presents to us the picture of Rome 
and Romanism ** as it is^^ at this day. His frank 
and explicit testimony with that of others, helps 
us to decide with less and less difficulty, whether 
Rome be ** the metropolis of the christian world," 
or the very fountain head of the great Apostacy 
predicted by Daniel, Paul and John. 

We beg, therefore, a respectful hearing to him, 
by all Protestants. They will find that he con- 
firms all that we, who have been drawn into the 
field against the papacy, have been uttering on the 
public ear these many years past. And every 
candid Roman Catholic will, we trust, allow him 
also a fair hearing. He comes not as your enemy. 
Judge ye for yourselves. He utters no harsh re- 
flections on you. His heart loves you. He 
knows how to pity and sympathize. For he has 
worn these same chains which are now on your 
limbs. And by the grace of God, he has broken 
off and cast from him the cruel yoke which am- 
bitious men have cruelly placed on your necks. 
He comes to tell you how happy, — how truly 
happy he now is, since he cast away a novel and 
human religion, and received the pure christian 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

faith ; since he exchanged the cross of Rome for 
THE HOLY CROSS of our Lord Jesus Christ ; since 
he renounced the Romish slavery of the mind, and 
became '' the freeman of the Lord." And his 
bowels of compassion yearn with paternal affec- 
tion over you, whom he longs to woo over to the 
same divine faith, and the same christian felicity 
which he enjoys. 

The following I give in his own words: *'I 
know the feelings of Roman Catholics, and assure 
my Protestant brethren, that harsh words and re- 
proaches will not be the means of converting one 
papist. Some writers whose intentions are pure, 
whose desire is to propagate the gospel, but who 
are unacquainted with the interior scheme of po- 
pery, can but limit their zeal to a dry theological 
discussion. They recur to the councils, and 
quote the canons ; of which the body of the Ro- 
man Catholics are totally ignorant. Hence it is 
no wonder that they deny the authenticity of the 
documents adduced ; and that they resist the truth 
and oppose it with all the might of their unregener- 
ate hearts. 

'* I have before me," — continues Dr. G. — " some 
pamphlets written by some new converts," whose 
eyes the Lord had opened, and enable them to 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

see the errors of popery ; but who seem to betray 
a spirit of bitterness against their old friends, as if 
they thought that the more violent they are against 
the church of Rome, the better Protestants they 
will appear ; and the more they denounced the 
pope and his priests, the more they will be ap- 
preciated and loved by Protestants ! But the Lord 
has impressed my mind differently. He has 
shown me not only the errors of popery, but also 
"THE TRUTH as it is in Jesus." When I left the 
church of Rome, I did not cease to love the mem- 
bers of it; nor to pray for the conversion of their 
souls, — yea, even for those of my bitterest perse- 
cutors. 

*' Hence," adds lie, ** I have taken up the pen 
to write, not against Romanists, but on their be- 
half. I come to offer myself as an humble, but 
faithful guide, I trust, to lead them into a candid 
and devout investigation of the divine truths of 
the Holy Bible, and to aid them to compare 
these truths with the dogmas and precepts of the 
Roman Catholic faith. I come to help them in 
God's name, and by his grace to do what He has 
enabled me successfully to do myself. And when 
I have the painful task faithfully to lift the veil 
and expose the fatal errors of popery and the 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

abuses of the Roman church ; it will only be with 
the view of laying before you, my friends, in 
love, and with earnest prayer, the facts of which 
I have been an eye and an ear witness ; and also 
the PRACTICES which every Eoman Catholic must 
adopt, although they are manifestly contrary to 
reason and to the practices of the primitive church, 
and to the living word of God. 

''And allow me to indulge the hope," adds Dr. 
G. *' that every Roman Catholic who reads these 
pages, will not hesitate to imitate the applauded 
conduct of the ancient noble Bereans ; and search 
for themselves the scriptures, to see whether these 
things be so. For contrary to the erring traditions 
of the fathers, the most High God has declared 
that " the holy scriptures are able to make you 
wise unto salvation, through faith which is in 
Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii. 15. And again He 
saith, "search the scriptures, for in them ye think 
ye have eternal life, and they are they which tes- 
tify of me." John v, 39. 

" Above all," adds my estimable and beloved 
friend Dr. G. " I am anxious to exhibit to my 
Protestant and Roman Catholic friends, the mira- 
culous manner in which my blessed Lord and 
Master brought me out of the darkness of popery 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

by my conversion to the light and hope of the 
blessed gospel of his grace. 

"Finally, if through the medium of this my 
feeble effort, there should be even one soul 
brought not only from popery to Protestantism, 
but into the heavenly light of the Sun of Right- 
eousness ; and should thence be enabled to burst 
asunder the fatal chains of tradition, superstition 
and idolatry, which it was my calamity to wear 
thirty-one years, and come forth redeemed and 
disenthralled, my labors shall be amply recom- 
pensed ; and all the praise and glory shall be to 
the divine God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: 
Amen." 

W. C. Brownlee, 

Of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church 
of the City of New York, 

New York, Jipril, 1843. 



t^REDENTlALS OF THE lUTHOR. 

1 HAVE no doul3t, that some into whose hands 
\his little volume may fall will stigmatize me as a 
lieretic, but it fiiatters myt what men may say, I 
will answer thfmi in the language of the apostle, 
that : *' I am determined not to know any thing 
■among men, save Jesus ChHst, and him ctucified." 

Tliere will be others gs is usually the ease, 
who will say -that 1 have written, to gain favor 
with Protestants, from whom I may have received 
some temporal support; With regard to a charge 
't)f this character, I would appeal to the Protestants 
of all denominations, if aity of them can come 
'forward and say that I have asked, or even receiv- 
ed the value of a farthing from any one of them 
'in the Uniofn, ili the form of assistance ; but quite 
the reverse, for I have often labored without any 
^^molument, for the promotion of the Redeemer's 
kingdom. 

To prove this I will advance an instance from 
^he proceedings of the Synodical Convention df 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the State of 
Maryland, for the year 1840, by the President, 
the Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, D, D. 
1 



Z CREDENTIALS OF THE AUTHOR, 

'* On the 14th November, the Rev. Dr. Giustins- 
ani,. formerly a respectable and zealous RomaD 
Catholic priest in the city of Rome, but for several 
years a faithful Protestant minister of the gospel, 
in the employment of the Western Colonial Mis- 
sionary Society in England as missionary in Aus- 
tralia, applied for admission into our Synod. After 
examining his numerous and flattering credentials 
from the most respectable sources, and satisfying 
ourselves of his qualifications and the purity of 
his motives^ we cheerfully received him, and it 
will now devolve upon the ministerium to decide 
as to the propriety of that act. 

'' The committee constituted to take measures to 
erect a missionary station, for the benefit of our 
German brethren on Fell's JPoint, Baltimore, com- 
posed of the Rev. Dr. Kurtz, sen., the Rev. Mr. 
Morris, Mr. Sauerwein, and your President, ap- 
pointed the Rev. Dr. Giustiniani as missionary to 
that station, and agreed to allow him the compen- 
sation promised by the synod. But we were very 
much embarrassed for the want of funds to carry 
out the design of synod. Though a resolution 
was passed requiring all our ministers to take up 
collections or subscriptions for the maintenance 
of said missionary, yet very few complied, and 



CREDENTIALS OF THE AUTHOR. 3 

the consequence was, that though your missionary 
labored most zealously, " in season and out of 
season," yet the trivial recompense we were en- 
abled to afford him, fell far short of what he had 
a right to expect, and was by no means adequate 
lo his support. Perceiving the embarrassment of 
your committee, arising from the non-compliance 
of the members of synod with the resolution to 
raise funds for his support, he sometime since 
magnanimously resigned all claims on the com- 
mittee that might accrue from future services, and 
generously continued his missionary labors at his 
own cost, subject, however, to the instruction and 
control of your committee, just as if he were re- 
ceiving the promised compensation from them." 

It is not very desirable for any man to speak of 
himself; but it being natural for my readers, to 
whom I am about to disclose some articles of 
Eome, and the manner in which the Lord brought 
me out from the darkness of popery to the mar- 
velous light of the gospel, to desire to know some- 
thing of the author. I here submit the following 
facts. 

A Roman by birth, and educated in the metro- 
polis of the world, having studied in the Univer- 
sity of Rome, finished there the course of Theo- 



4 c1iI:d:&ntials of thi: author. 

logy, graduated and promoted to sacred ordei*s itl 
the Basilic Church of St. John ill Lateran, in 
Rome, the reader may be assured, that the author 
must know something of Rome and papal cor- 
ruptions. Therefore he sincerely believes it to 
be a duty incumbent upon him to give a short ac- 
count of it, in ordet to enlighten the Protestants^ 
and direct the Roman Catholics to the sure foun- 
tain of lifoj Jesus Christ the only mediator be* 
tween God and man* 

My object is not to eulogise myself, but to shoW 
my readers that I am what I profess, and as some 
are generally apt to attack ["when they caii not re* 
sist the truth] the writer, instead of the written 
truths or principles which ate set forth, I thought 
it my duty to annex my credentials, in order that 
the reader may be divested of all doubts of the 
truth of the stated facts, which are laid before 
him. 

First. I lay before the reader the testimonials 
of the Professors of the Theological Faculties of 
the University^ Gregoriana, where I finished 
my regular course of Theology, before I was or* 
dained. 

I lay also my ordination letter before my rea- 
ders, which I sent for when I was in Switzerland^ 



CERTIFICATES FROM ROME. 5 

as a legal document, to arrange my temporal af- 
fairs, authenticated in the office of the Archbishop 
at Florence, and also of good authorities of this 
country, that these copies are true from the ori- 
ginal. 



CERTIFICATES FROM ROME. 

Ego subscriptus tester R. Dnum. Aloysium 
Giustiniani per tres annos mea sub disciplina in 
Gregoriana Universitate Collegii Romani ad sacras 
Theologiae studium, summa cum laude, et pro- 
gressu incubuisse, atque tam evidentia perspica- 
cis ingenei, bonitatisque moribus specimen pre- 
buisse, ut quisquis de ipso optimam spem conci- 
pere queat, pro re veritate fateor. 

Datum RoQise, Die 15 Novembris, 1826. 

Prosper Piatti, • 
Collegii Eom, Theologiae Professor. 

Testor ego infrascriptus tam de annis ut supra, 
quam de progressu inscientiis biblicis in hac Gre- 
goriana Universitate, nee non in Theolog. MoraL 
in Seminario Romano pro viribus studuisse, ac 
in his scienciis ita fuitversatus, ut inagone litter- 



b CERTIFICATES FROM ROME. 

ario pluries certaverit, et prestantissimas laudes 
certando semper memerit, in quorum fidem dabam 
ex sedibus Die 16 idem mensis, 1826. 

J. Caio. Pellicani, 
Collegii Romani ex Professor, et h. f. 
[L. S.] Seminarii Romani FubL Prof, 

Caspar Gasparini Scolarum Prefectus. 



D. Placidus ord. S. Benedicti Congreg. Camal- 
dulensis titiili S. Crucis in Jerusalem. S. R. E. 
Presbiter Cardinalis Zurla S. S., D/. N. Papae 
Vicarius Generalis, Roman^que Curiae, ej usque 
Districtus Judex Ordinarius. 

Universis, et singulis prasentes nostras visuris, 
lecturis pariter, at audituris, notum facimus, et 
testamur Illmum. ac Revmum. P. D. Laurentium 
Mattel Patriarc. Antiochen. Romse die Sabb. 4 
temporum post Fest. S. Luciae 23 M. Decembris 
1826, in Sacram Lateranens. Basilicam Genera- 
lem Ordinationem inter Missarum Solemn, cele- 
brand. de lieentia no.<«tra inter alios dilectissim. no- 
bis in Christo fill. Aloysium Giustiniani Romanum 
at titulum Pensionis praevio examine a R. R. P. 
P. D. D. Examinatoribus in Urbe deputatis, ido- 
neum repertum, et admissum cum ceremoniis, et 



CERTIFICATES FUOM ROME. 7 

SDlemnitatibiis necessariis, et opportunis in si mi- 
lib us fieri soiitis, et consuetis juxta, el secundum 
S. R. E. ritum morein, et consuetudinem ad sacr, 
8. Diaconatus ordinem preeviis Publicationem, et 
Spiritualem Exercitium rite, et recte Servor.serv. 
in Domino Promo visse, et ordinasse ; in quorum 

omnium et singulorum fidem has prsesentes literas 

a nobis, sen ab Illmo. ac Rev mo. P. D. Vicesge- 

rente, etD secret, nostro subscriptas, Sigilloque 

nostro munitas fieri jus^simus. 

Datur RoMiE ex aedibus nostris hacdie primam 

mensis Februari anno 1827, Jurisdict. XIV. Pon- 

tificatus Sanctissimi in Christo Patris, et D. n.D« 

Leonis, Divina Providentia Papse XII. anno ejus 

IV. &;c. 

C. J, Patriarch, 

\Ti S.] Const antinopolitanus. Vices Gerens, ^'-c 

Cos. Antonius. Canoxicus Argenti. 

Secretarius* 



Concorda la presente eopia col suo originale 
esistente in filza di atti straordinarj, che si con- 
serva nella curia Arcivescovile di Firenza di 1 Lu- 
glio 1830. 

In fade, Gio. Pensi, 

[[L. S.] Cancelliere Arcivescovile, 



8 GERTIFICATES FROM ROMEV 

I have read and carefully compared the abov^ 

co»py, with the original documcBt ; also his other 

testimonials^ together with the document given to 

him by ^'^-the Consistoire de Geneve/' before 

whom Dr. Giiistinisim solemrly renoii»ced Ro- 

manism.» 

W» C Brownlse, 

Of the Prot.Ref. Dutch Church of N.. York. 

New York, March 22d, 1843. 

Having^seen the originals, as above,, and havings 

no doubt of their genuineness and authenticity^ 

I cheerfully add my attestation to that of Dr, 

Brownlee. 

Samuel H. Cox, Pmtor of the 

First Presbyterian Church of this City. 

Brooklyn^ N. Y, March 22d, 1843. 

Having read and compared the above copy with 
the original document and believing them genuine^ 
and faithful, I freely concur with the testimo- 
nial's of Drs. Brownlee and Cox. 

Charles Martin, Pastor of 
St. Matthew's Ev. Luth. Church of N.York^ 

Chas. F. E. Stoiijwsann, Pastor of the 
United Ger7nan Luth. Churches in N. York^ 
New Yorky March 22d, 1843. 



OBSTACLES OF CONVERSION. 9 

I have compared the foregoing certificate of or- 
dination with the original, and find it to be a cor- 
rect copy. 

Jno. G. Morris. 

Baltimore, April Itli, 4843. 



THE CONVERSION OF A ROMAN CATH- 
OLIC IS A GREAT MIRACLE. 

The age of moral miracles has not ceased, 
whatever the opinion of modern theologians to 
the contrary may be, whatever proofs they may 
adduce to support their opinions, I will answer 
them in the ianffua^e of the blind man, who was 
healed by our Savior; "One thing I know, that 
whereas, I was blind, now I see." I know that 
the Lord has worked a miracle in my heart, once 
I was a blind leader of the blind, now I know 
that without grace I can not do any thing. I know 
it, I have felt the miraculous power of grace in 
my heart ; who will contest the reality of it ? — 
That the blind received their sight, and the lame 
walked, and the lepers were cleansed, and the 
deaf heard, and that the dead were raised up, are 
undoubtedly miracles, but that He should make 



10 OBSTACLES IN THE WAY 

sncli an extraordinary change in the heart of man, 
who had imbibed the religious superstitions of the 
church of Rome for thirty-one years ; to give him 
grace and strength to leave mother, sisters, friends 
and all that was nearest and dearest to him on 
earth, for Christ's sake, is an astounding moral 
miracle, that cannot be properly appreciated by 
any man who has not been the subject of such a 
conversion. 

My mind has often been filled with astonish- 
ment, and deep meditation on the subject of con- 
version. I am convinced, that when a Protestant 
is converted, he believes the truth, which he once 
considered folly, and looks upon the formalities 
in which he was brought up from his infancy, 
(which have been augmented and strengthened 
Avith his age,) as many tyrants, which bound and 
shackled his mind, or as many clouds which have 
darkened the horizon of truth, and deprived him 
of the light of the sun of righteousness, which 
he now enjoys in peace with his God. 

The conversion of a Protestant who had aban- 
doned himself even to the vilest passions of his 
heart, violating openly the precepts of God, by 
committing all sorts of sinful acts, is certainly a 
miracle ; it is the work of the almighty power of 
God, still the conversion of a Roman Catholic is 



OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC. 11 

a greater miracle. For the Protestant, though he 
was living in vice, never abhorred virtue, nor 
detested those who practised it. He was not reli- 
gious, because he considered its practice difficult, 
but never rejected it as an abominable practice, and 
during the time when he openly transgressed the 
laws of God, he never considered the observance 
of them sinful, nor did he hate those who faith- 
fully practised them ; it never came into his mind 
to extirpate the faithful believers in the Bible with 
fire and faggot, as obnoxious beings worthy of 
the curse of God and man. But a Roman Cath- 
olic, before his conversion to the truth of the Bi- 
ble, is obliged to consider all other religious 
creeds as abominations in the eyes of God. I 
never heard them spoken of without an impreca- 
tion. The name of Luther is never mentioned 
without the epithet, " maledetto Luthero," the 
cursed Luther, The name of Calvin with the 
addition: I'execrata memoria di Calvino," the ex- 
ecrated memory of Calvin, The Reformation 
was never a subject of conversion without a pro- 
fusion of anathemas. Every Easter I heard the 
Pope curse the Protestants from the balcony of 
the Vatican, and bless the faithful Catholics, giv- 
ing them an entire remission of all their sins, and 
five hundred days indulgence from the pains of 



12 OBSTACLES IN THE WAY 

Purgatory to all jvho have confessed, and com- 
muned according to the precepts of the church. 
Is it possible to describe the horror I had for Pro- 
testantism, and with what dread all others look 
upon it? 

Another obstacle, which lies in the way of a 
Roman Catholic, and one of the greatest of all, is 
ihe false peace in which Rome cradles her follow- 
ers. No Protestant can ever imagine, much less 
have an adequate idea of those feelings which a 
devoted Roman Catholic has after he leaves the 
confessional. I remember it with sorrow, and 
blush over my ignorance, that I could be so cred- 
ulous. When my conscience accused me of sin- 
fulness, when my heart was nearly broken with 
the sorrowful conviction of having sinned against 
my God, I often kneeled in a corner of the church 
before an image of the virgin Mary, or before a 
statue of a saint, praying for rest to ray troubled 
soul; I was ashamed to acquaint the priest with 
all the indwellings of my heart, at the same time 
I feared if I should neglect that precept of the 
church, that I must go to hell, in that internal 
war with myself, and I may say with my God, I 
approached the confessional ; I clothed my sins 
in the garment of self-righteousness; instead of 



6V A ROMAN CATliOLtC. IS 

accusing myself, I complained of temptationsj 
and strong inclinations to sin ; in many instances 
I excused myself; I promised every thing only 
to obtain absolution. I repeat, that iio Protestant 
can enter into those feelings, \vhich I had aftei* 
having received absolution ; though I was con* 
scious of having deceived the priest, still the idea, 
of having obtained the absolutioti, I felt as easy 
as if I had really obtained the remission of all my 
sins, and a license to begin a new catalogue foi^ 
the next time of confession. 

My readers will think, that this was my indi- 
vidual fault ; other papists ate inore siiicere in the 
observance of the so-called sacrament of penance^ 
My readers can be assured, that one-third of the 
inhabitants of Rome, confess only pro forma, 16 
obtain the parochial ticket,^ that they might not 

1 The ticket is given by the parish priest at the altar^ 
when he is administering the communion. A month 
after Easter he visits every house in his parish, col- 
lecting the said tickets, in order to know who had ne- 
glected that precept of the church. A person who is 
found without the ticket, is kindly admonished, but if 
obstinate, his name is fixed on the doors of the four 
Basilic churches, viz., St, Peter^s, St. John of Lateran^ 
jS^. Maria Maggiore, and St. Maria del Trastevere, 
with the excommunication of the Pope annexed. — 
Should this second effort be also fruitless, the Pope, as 
the Father of the faithful, and anxious that no soul 
should be lost, causes him to be put in prison, where 
he is visited by the priests. But should the third ef- 



14 OBSTACLES IN THE WAY 

be subject to the vexations and punishments to 
which the disobedient members are exposed. A 
larofe number of the inhabitants do not confess at 
all, they buy the ticket from the boys, who usu- 
ally serve the priests in the vestibuhim, or room, 
where they dress themselves to appear before the 
altar. I remember having once bought such ,a 
ticket from the Sacristano} Not out of contempt 
to the sacrament, but for conscience sake; I 
thought it a sacrilege to commune without having 
obtained the absolution. I preferred to deceive 
the priest, by giving him a bought ticket, rather 
than my God, by communing with a load of sin 
upon my soul. 

Another impediment, not less obstructive in 
the way of the truth of the gospel, is the temporal 
prospects, which the church of Rome holds out 
to her members. It is like a barrier raised up 
against the gospel truth. It is like an iron grasp, 

fort prove fruitless also, then the Pope with the au- 
thority of the Vicar of Christ, and the love of the good 
Shepherd, gives him into the good care of the tortures 
of the Holy Inquisition, until he returns into the bo- 
som of the mother church. 

^Sacristano is the _^ervant of the church, whose of- 
fice is to dress the priest before he celebrates the mass, 
lighting the candles, adjusting the altar, and assisting 
at the mass, &c. 



OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC. 15 

which holds them back. Every respectable family 
in Rome has a priest in its bosom, who is the 
hope of the family. Worldly honors ; ecclessias- 
tical offices ; riche^^ of this world are expected, 
and to obtain them, nothing is neglected ; the mask 
of hypocrisy is put on; intrigues are entered into, 
even immoral means, and if necessary carnal 
prostitutions to some cardinal or prelate, or even 
to the humble confessor, are used, as means to 
become great in the Catholic and Apostolic 
Church of Rome* 

After all these repugnances and antipathies 
towards Protestantism ; worldly inducements; 
spiritual encouragements, and false peace to the 
troubled soul ; add also ihefear of papal excom- 
munication, and the tortures of the Holy Inquis- 
ition, and then ask whether the conversion of a 
Roman Catholic is not a great wonder ? Yes ! a 
moral miracle, as great as the opening of the eyes 
of the blind, and the raising up of the dead. For 
it is the opening of the eyes of the blind ; and 
the raising of the dead in sins. 



As liiy intention is not ohly to give hiy jie^son* 
al experience, but also to describe Rome as it is 
how, the digression of the present chapter will 
hot be considered a deviation from the subject^ 
but ah elucidation of the moral corruption of the 
church of Rome. Having mentiohed Easter, 
when his Holiness the Pope so profusely pours 
out curses on Protestants, it Will not be out of or- 
der to give a description of the manner in which 
that festival is celebrated, and sanctified in Eome* 

JSaster is one of the three great festivals in the 
church of Rome. It is true, the calendar is near- 
ly all set apart to the commemoration of saintSk 
We have more saitits than there are days in the 
year; still Easter having been a subject of agita* 
lion in the church, and the cause of separation 
between the Latin and the Greek churches,^ Rome 
displays more luxury, and ecclesiastical splendor 
in its celebration than in any other festival in the 
calendar. 

^Circa ann. 862. 



-EASTER. 17 

The Holy week, which precedes Easter, is 
worthy to be mentioned. Every amateur of mu- 
sic will know something of the so far famed 
'"mfsej-ere" which is performed in the Sixtin 
Chapel during the last three evenings of the Holy 
week. The chapel is in the Vatican, painted by 
Michael Angela, fresh as if his master pencil had 
touched it only to-day ; on the right of the altar 
a throne is erected for the Pope ; on both sides 
the Cardinals are arrayed in purple,^ each of them 
assisted by their respective caudatario,^ and Ma- 
estro di ceremonia.^ — The patriarchs, and bish- 
ops in their pontifical dress ; the generals, and 
chiefs of every religious order in their monastic 
array. The lodges erected on both sides of the 
chapel are crowded with foreign ambassadors, 
their ladies and other distinguished foreigners of 
both sexes. In the middle of the chapel is a 
reading desk of a triangular form upon which 

^The cardinal's usual dress is scarlet red, but in the 
mormng they dress in purple. 

^Caudatario is literally translated tail-hear er, or one 
who carries the tail of the cardinal's togfa. 

'^Maestro di ceremonia, is a priest who directs the 
order in pontifical masses ; every cardinal has one as 
an apendix to his suit, and in the house of his emi- 
nence, he is an overseer of the domestic affairs. 



18 EASTER, 

thirteen candles are burning, as a symbol of the 
candelabrum in the temple of Jerusalem ; others 
however, say of our Savior, and his twelve dis- 
ciples. Every eye is directed towards the throne ; 
the Pope giving the signal, the '^ miserere meV* 
is commenced, and at once the chapel is rendered 
vocal by a hundred voices. To describe the ef- 
fect, and impression which it produces upon the 
senses, is beyond the power of human language. 
Ecclesiastical splendor flashing on every side in 
a thousand forms, military, and diplomatic decor- 
ations of all the courts of Europe, the display of 
the ladies, and other fascinations beggar all des- 
cription. In addition to this, the paintings of the 
most renowned masters of Italy, the best perform- 
ers of the theatrical artists, and choresters, and 
the most unrivalled voices of Eunuchs, are too 
overpowering to be depicted. After every psalm 
a candle is extinguished, until the last^ which re- 
mains the only one burning in the whole chapel. 
We can see the colors gradually darken, and tlie 
figures of the paintings by degrees lose their form, 
a striking symbol of the papal power, which is 
loosing its influence, and gradually fading away 
like the twilight of the evening. 

Saturday before Easter, at twelve o'clock the 
bells are heard from every steeple, the clouds are 



EASTER. 1 9 

rent by their sounds, and the earth trembles from 
the roaring of the canon from Fort St, An- 
gelo; the ears are deafened by the merry clamors 
of the children in the streets, and the reports of 
pistols fired nearly in every house. The re- 
membrance of that joyful spectacle produces now 
a very different sensation in my heart, for I know 
the Savior has risen from the dead, and I with 
him. 

Saturday evening at seven o'clock, P. M. every 
dwelling, where an image of a Madonna, or any 
saint is stationed for the houses are illuminated,^ 
altars are erected, lytanies are sung ; and prayers 
upon bended knees are offered to those saints, all 
these in the middle of the streets. In the mean- 
lime the multitude of the (so called) better class 
of the inhabitants of Rome are directed toward 
St. Peter's, where the grandest, and most impos- 
ing spectacle is to be seen. But at the same time 
the most revolting to every moral sense, and reli- 
gious feeling. 

A cross (covered with brass, semetrically illu- 
minated with thousands of lamps) is suspended 

^It is the custom in Italy to have niches in the walls; 
the outside of the houses, in which the Virgin Mary, 
or some saint is placed, as a protector of the house, 
and family. 



20 EASTER. 

in the middle of the church. The reader may 
form some kind of an idea of the colossal height 
of that cross, when he is informed that its magni- 
tude does apparently, not diminish even after be- 
ing suspended at a tremendous height above the 
heads of the people. Round that cross you can see, 
promenading arm in arm, the lover with his dul- 
cinea, as though promenading in a dancing sa- 
loon ; chatting, laughing, and indulging in most 
irreverent acts, which would be considered an of- 
fence in a respectable hotel, these are committed 
publicly in the sanctuary, under the cross of 
Christ. As the church is entirely dark, except 
the light which the cross reflects in it, there are 
sometimes lovers of darkness, rather than of light ; 
who often lose their way in the adjacent collon- 
ades, and chapels, where they perpetrate the most 
wicked acts, of which every honest man would 
blush, except the adorers of the cross in the 
church of St. Peter's. This spectacle lasts until 
eleven o'clock in the night ; decency forbids me 
to say more, and constrains me«to relinquish the 
subject of the adoration of the cross in St. Pe- 
ter's at Rome. 

Easter morning. The roaring of the cannon 
announces the ushering in of the morn ; the har- 



EASTER. 21 

monious sounds from the thousand steeples miti- 
gate the roughness of the first, and invite the 
slumbering beauty to leave her couch, and pre- 
pare for the rendezvous given the last night under 
the illuminated cross. 

Nine o'clock, A. M. The square of St. Pe- 
ter's presents the most varied, and interesting 
spectacle, State carriages of all descriptions ; 
the cardinals in their full dress, and suit, the am- 
bassadors of all the foreign courts, with all the 
particular characteristics of their nations; car- 
riages of the innumerable prelates, bishops, and 
chiefs of the monastic orders; two regiments of 
soldiers in arms ; martial music, the spouting of 
the gigantic fountains ; thousands, and ten thous- 
ands of pedestrians of every sex and class, dress- 
ed in their best garments, take their posts under 
the colonades, or other spots, as they think the 
most convenient ; this lasts until one o'clock, P. 
M., so that the whole square is thronged with 
people. One o'clock is usually the time of the 
appearance of the Pope on the balcony of the 
church ; a dead silence prevails throughout the 
whole mass of the people; every eye is directed 
to the spot, with watches in the hand, the min- 
utes are counted ; in the mean time the balcony 



22 EASTER. 

is filling with cardinals, bishops, and monks ; the 
attention becomes so ri vetted, that a sigh might 
be heard ; at length the Pope appears in an arm 
chair carried upon the shoulders of eight persons 
between two gigantic fans. Then the deafening 
shouts of the people, the sonorous martial music, 
the roaring of the cannon rend the clouds. *' Pa* 
dre la santa benedizione,^^ (father the holy bles- 
sing,) bursts from every mouth ; the handkerchiefs 
are waved by the ladies, and the hats by the men. 
All prostrate themselves upon the ground, they 
receive the blessing from the Pope ; a prelate then 
reads the so called " Bulla Coena JDomini,^^ in 
which the most horrible curses ao^ainst the here- 
tics, and infidels are pronounced, and a blessing 
upon all the faithful. Thus ends the spectacle 
for this time. 

In the afternoon all the promenades are visited, 
the wine houses filled ; the places of amusement 
enjoyed until the evening, when all again repair 
to the square of St. Peter's to enjoy the illumina- 
tion of the cupola.^ It is horrible to think, that 

^The cupola is illuminated by three hundred per- 
sons, who are stationed with Hghtened torches within 
the interior, in order that they should not be seen, and 
as soon as the first stroke of seven o'clock is heard, 
they rush forward and light the lamps assigned unto 
each of them, so that in om minute the whole cupola 



CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR 23 

suductions of the innocent, wicked plans framed, 
and perpetrated in those days, partly in the sanc- 
tuary under the eyes of the priests shall be called 
a religious worship. 



NARRATIVE 

OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PROVIDENCE 0¥ 
GOD SHOWED ME THE ERRORS OF POPERY. 

As the heaven is high above the earth, so great 
is God's mercy towards men ; and as far as the 
east is from the west, so far are his counsels from 
ours. One day, it was a charming summer day, 
a day when an Italian sun sheds its enlivening 
rays over the city of the world ; who could think 

is illuminated, even the cross on the top has three 
licrhts. In addition to this, the reflection of these 
lights in the spouts of the gigantic fountains, where 
every drop in the air is like a prism, and represents 
thousands of rainbows, is above all description. — 
When Joseph II. of Austria visited Rome, the Pope 
gave an illumination in honor of that august stranger, 
when he had watched the spouting of the fountains 
for a short time, he said: ''It is enough." But how 
much greater was his surprise when he was informed 
that these were perpetual fountains. And at the first 
stroke of seven o'clock the Secretary of State asked 
for a pinch of snufF and in the time the emperor of 
Austria turned to give his snuff-box, the v^rhole cupola 
appeared in fire. Joseph was so astonished, that he 
would not take the snuff-box back, but gave it as a 
present to the cardinal, Secretary of State. 



24 CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR. 

that this would be the day, upon which I was to 
be emancipated from the thraldom of superstition 
and freed from the fetters of moral and religious 
slavery. Coming, as usual, from the public library 
of the Sapienza, on my way home I passed the 
Piazza Novona, one of the public squares of that 
name, and there encountered the stand of an anti- 
quarian, as one who sold second-handed books. 
After having examined his stock and found noth- 
ing which could be of use for my library, I saw a 
basket on the ground with very old books, which 
he offered me for tre Bajocchj, four cents a piece. 
I searched and searched, and found a small volume 
in the French language, a translation from the Eng- 
lish, entitled: ''Father Clement." I thought 
it a life of some saint, and being written in French, 
I thought it might be of double benefit for edifica- 
tion as well as instruction. I paid my four cents 
and left the stand. How great was my surprise 
when in reading Father Clement, I found a dis- 
cussion between a Jesuit and a Protestant, instead 
of a life of a saint. All my attention was directed 
to one point, where is the truth ? After having 
attentively perused the little book, I read again 
and again the scriptural passages in favor of the 
arguments. I could not then believe that such 



lOONVERSlOK OF ^HE AtTTHOH. 25 

^l^assages were in the Bible, and what was still 
worse, I had 7io Bible to confront th^ tr«th and 
correctness of the passages. Some of my read- 
ers v/ill think it impossible that a Roman Catho- 
lic priest shonld be v/ithout a Bible ; they will at- 
tribute it to my own liikewarmness, I can assure 
them that few, very feio priests in Rome and 
throughout Italy are in the possession of thrt 
Holy book, and those who have it keep it like 
any other classical book only as &n ornament in 
their libraries.^ 

Having no B.bte to verify the truth of the pas- 
sages quoted by the Protestant, I went to the pub- 
Mc library of the Dominicans, called, "Za il^'- 
nerva,^' from the church which was once a tem- 
ple dedicated to that divinity. But what was my 
surprise, when on asking Fruter Jlmhrodio for a 
Polyglot Bible, he asked rae if I had the permis- 
sion from the Msestro del Sacro Palazzo to read 
tv ? I told him with resentment that I never knew 
of the necessity of such a license ; as a theolo- 

^When I studied theology, Ilieard twice every week 
the lectures on Bisquisitio Biblica, and never saw a 
Bible in the hand of the professor, nor in the hand of 
any of the students. The professor dictated from his 
f)apers on the controversy of the creation; about the 
Adamites and Pre-adamites and all such stuff, which 
i^as neither for the head nor for the heart 



2S CONVERSION OF tHB AUTHOE, 

gian I thought it an affront to refuse me the Bible.- 
Fra. Ambrosio, who was a very good natured old- 
man, and who knew me from a boy, assured me' 
that his intention was not to insult me, but these 
were his orders ; and that every one, even old 
pnests must have a license to read the Bible. BuV 
he stated that he would ask the librarian, and tell 
him that he knew me, and if the librarian had no- 
objection he would give me the Polyglot Bible. 
He did so, and the librarian Father Cipidlay at 
that time also the vice inquisitor, authorized him^ 
to give me any book, even those which are in the 
Index (libror. prohib.) of the forbidden books. 

These little difficulties augmented my desire to 
read not only the few passages in Father Clement,, 
but the whole Bible. On the same day 1 searched 
in all the bookselkr stores for a Bible, and bought 
one, a translation from the vulgate by Martini y 
Arch-bishop of Florence. It is impossible to des- 
cribe my feelings, when I found that the passages 
quoted by the Protestant had been faithfully trans- 
cribed from the Bible. New, and almost unde- 
fineable ideas occupied my mind. I am so old^ 
and have not known the Bibk ? I studied theo- 
logy, read the fathers, and canons of the different 
councils, and not the Bible ? Why should I have 



CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR. 2f 

is. special permission to read the word of God ? 
Why have Protestants, [who are considered here- 
tics] free access to the Bible ? These, and many 
other excruciating thoughts tortured my mind. It 
was a problem, which I could not solve. I felt 
that there was something wrong ; but where, I 
could not find out* Haunted by these thoughts I 
went to my spiritual adviser, and recounted to him 
every thing* I was sincere, and that too perhaps 
for the first time since my fifteenth year, wheri 
I first opened my whole heart and troubled mind 
to a confessor. He was astonished that such a 
trifling thing should trouble me, as it was nothing 
more than temptations of the devil, to which I 
yielded. He counseled me : to let the Bible 
alone, as it was too strong a food for my fer- 
vent imagination. Then he asked me: " If I 
had not been in contact with some heretic P If 
I had given Father Clement to some other per^ 
son to read? If I had communicated my senti- 
ments to some of my companions? If I had 
been a long time in the possession of the Bible ? 
After having answered all these questions in the 
negative, he continued his directions. " To give 
no room in my mind to such heretical ideas ; 
being only Satan, who appears as an angel of 



S8 CONVERSION OF THE AtJTPHO&i 

light. That I must burn Father Clement^ as 
the sole cause of the eviL That I should make 
it as a rule to pay my morning and evening de^ 
votions to the ever blessed Virgin Mary. To be 
more exact in the duty of saying the horss can- 
onical in the Breuiary, Sf-c. <^c."^ 

I promised to do all he I'equired me to do, and 
I did all, except two things I could not observe^ 
namely : to let the Bible alone and to burn Father 
Clement; 

After a long and heart-rending strugle with my^ 
self, I kneeled before the image of the Virgin 
Mary, and asked in fervent prayer the counsel of 
the queen of heaven, [as I believed her to be;^ 
I came to the resolution to inquire : 

1st. Whether the practices of the church ot 
Rome has been the practice of the primitive 
churches ? 

2nd. Whether the practices and doctrines of the 
church of Rome can be proved and sanctioned by 
the authority of the Bible ? and 

3rd. Whether they can be confirmed by the au^ 
thority of the Fathers ? 

^Horae Canonicae is a certain task, which every priest 
is in duty bound to perform, by saying some prayers 
in the Bieuiary in the morning, and is called : ''Ma- 
tUtinae," and in the evening called: "Vesper," and in 
the middle of the day, called horce. 



CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR. 29 

Scarcely had I made the resolution, when I felt 
as if a burden had fallen from my heart. I thanked 
the Holy Virgin for her wise counsel, and deter- 
mined to go to work as soon as possible. Never 
were the words of the apostle Paul "to will is 
present with me, but how to perform that which 
is good, I find not;" more applicable than in my 
case. Though strongly determined to investigate 
the Scriptures, still there was an internal voice as 
it were, which whispered to my conscience, say- 
ing: "What, inquire if the doctrines of the 
church of Rome are the same as in the primitive 
churches ? Is it not the Catholic and Apostolic 
church ? V/ho can doubt the primitive principles 
and usages of the Roman church ? What ! in- 
quire whether the doctrines of the Catholic church 
can be proved by the Bible ? Is it not a mortal 
sin to doubt the authenticity of the mother church, 
which is the only saving church out of which 
there is no salvation ?" Such were the thoughts 
and feelings, which habits prejudice and perhaps 
superstition suggested to my bewildered mind. 

Father Clement being constantly upon ray table, 
I read it over and over again, so that I knew it 
nearly by heart. Finally I made a resolution, 
which was in harmony with my own conscience, 



30 THE MASS. 

neither derogatory to reason, nor to the doctrines 
of the church of Rome. A resolution of which 
no Roman Catholic, priest or layman can be 
ashamed. It was simply this. If the doctrines 
of the church of Rome are true, why should I 
not investigate them, and see if they are really 
based upon the Scriptures, and the usages of the 
primitive churches ? In order that my faith 
might be more fully established, and also in^ 
structed in the Bible, Are the doctrines of the 
church of Rome not based upon the Bible, and 
if they are contrary to the usages of the primi- 
tive churches, it is necessary for my souls sal' 
vation to know it. 



THE MASS. 

My readers will bear in mind, that at that time 
I had not been persuaded of the errors of popery, 
nor had I been in the possession of the truth. 
First I doubted and then I inquired ; therefore he 
must not expect an elaborate theological disquisi- 
tion upon the gospel truth, but only the experience 
of a sincere seeker. 

All the practices and dogmas of the church of 
Rome, were crowded together in my mind. The 



-TEE MA^. gi 

miasms; fransuhstantiafion ; aimcular confes- 
rsion; invocation of Saints; veneration of im- 
.mages ; tbdoration of relics ; fiUrgatory and in 
dulgences ; infallibility of the Fope; and the 
Inquisition^ ^c. AM these presented themselves at 
^oiiee to my mind, and I scarcely knew where to 
begin. But as the Mass is a precept of the church, 
and an injunction to every member : " to hear the 
sacred office of the Mass on fistival days^''^ it 
swas theirs/ subject ©f investigation on Scriptural 
grounds, and also whether it was the usage of the 
.primitive churches ? In my investigation I neg- 
lected nothing ; I read the fathers, canons, and 
searched diligently the Scriptures to support it; 
for ray desire was not to find errors, but to 
strenghten my faith in the doctrines of the church 
of Rome. 

" The Mass [as I had been taught] is u sacri- 
fice of external oblation of the body and blood of 
Christ, through the forms of bread and wine, sen- 
sibly exhibited by a legitimate minister, offered t@ 
^God in recognition of his supreme dominion, with 
the use of certain prayers and ceremonies pres- 
^cribed by the church for the better worship of 
'Ood and edification of the people.'^ As the es- 
^Wished doctrine oi the church of Rome, it is 



32 "^HE- mass; 

supported by aU theologians.^ The- conngiT e^" 
Trenl is equally decided on the subject.^ " Who- 
soever shall say, thc^t the sacrifice of the Mass is 
merely an offering of praise and thanks, or a sim- 
ple commemoration of the sacrifice performed on 
the cross and not propitiatory; of that it is of 
benefit only to the recipient ; and that it ought not 
to be off*ered for the living and the dead for sins, 
penances, satisfactions, asnd other aeces&ities ; let 
him be s;ccursed." 

The cerenwnieSr,^Vv^h form a. part of the sac- 
rifice I had as a matter of necessity investigated. 
Before that, I performed them mechanically, nofe 
even thinking of their signification ; but how was 
1 disappointed, wl^en. I found that those ceremo- 
nies are nat more related with the things of which 
they should be emblematic, than my readers are 
related with tW man in the moon. I shall give 
a. short description of the vestment and evolutions 
of the mass,. and the reader will see that there aro 
many acts and ceremDmes, which have no signi- 
fication at alL 

^Belarmino de Miss«sacrificio,lih. 1. — Suarez Dise^ 
quisilio de Missse celebranda. 

^Concil Tredent. Sessio 22, caB. 3,. 



THE MASS. S3 

" The priest, who officiates/ shall cover his 
head with an amice, (a white towel,) which sig- 
nifies the veil that the Jews put on Christ ; then 
over his own clothing an alb, (a white linen shirt,) 
which betokens a garment of that color, which 
Herod is said to have put upon Christ. The gir- 
dle, signifying the cord with which our Saviour 
was bound in the garden ; next he puts on a stole 
about his neck, as an emblem of the cord with 
which Christ was led to execution ; then comes 
the manipulum on his left hand, in allusion to 
the cord with which Christ was bound to the pil- 
lar when scourged; over all these a very rich, 
with gold embroidered vestment, which hangs be- 
hind and before in a curious manner, and is call- 
ed pivialis, significant of the purple garment 
with which the Jews clothed our Saviour. The 
altar represents the cross, the cup, the sepulchre 
of the Saviour, the patina, or cover of the cup, 
the stone on the grave ; the lighted candle, 
the light of Christ. Then follow, the prostra- 
tions, and genuflections, the boy and the little 
bell; the numerous bowings, turnings and facings, 
kissings and crossings. The drinking of all the 
wine and the asking for more; the drying of the 

'Missal. Rom. Rubrica. 



34 



THE MASS. 



cup with a white handkerchief as a sign that he 
drank all of it; all these things puzzled my 
mind. I searched the Bible in order to find a 
chapter in which the mass, which our Lord Je- 
sus Christ said, is described. I expected to 
find a description of the sacred vestments; 
the exact command of all the evolutions and in- 
tricate gesticulations of the celebrator of the 
mass. Unhappily I found not only nothing of all 
these things, but quite the contrary. I compared 
the missal with the Bible, and the following was 
the result of my research. 



The Church of Rome. 

" I further profess that 
in the mass is offered to 
God a true, proper, and 
propitiatory sacrifice for 
the livintr and dead." — 
Creed Pius. iv. 



" The mass is a sacri- 
fice not accompanied 
with shedding of blood." 

The mass is offered 
by sinful priests. 



The Bible. 

*'The blood of Christ 
cleanseth from all sin.' 
Epist. I. John c. i. v. 7. 

'^Behold the lamb of 
God that taketh away 
the sins of the world." 
Gospel of John, chap. i. 
V. 29. 



"Without sheddinty of 
blood is no remission of 
sins." Epist. Heb. c. 

vii. V. 27. 

»» Christ offered up 
himself," Ep. to Heb. 
c. vii. V, 27, 'Ho put away 
sin bv the sacrifice of 
himself" Ep. to Heb. 
c. ix. V. 26. 



THE MASS. 



35 



77^6 dmrch of Rome, 

"The mass is often 
repeated, for the living, 
and (Jead." Cone. Trid. 
Can. 3 



The priest needs dai- 
ly to offer up sacrifice, 
first for his own sins, 
then for the people. 

Ritus missal, Roman, 



"The day before our 
Lord suffered, he took 
bread into his holy and 
adorable hands, and lift- 
ing up his eyes to heav- 
en, to God, and giving 
thanks, he blessed (^^Aere 
the priest crosses, and 
re-crosses the wafer,) 
brake and gave to his 
disciples, (then the ma- 
neuver begins; the hos- 
tia is broken in two 
pieces upon the patina. 



The Bible. 

"Christ was once of- 
fered to bear the sins of 
many." Ep, Heb, c. ix. 
V. 28. 

"^y one offering he 
had perfected for ever 
them that are sancti- 
fied." Heb. c. X. V. 14. 

"Sush an high priest 
became us, who is holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and 
separate from sinners, 
and made higher than 
the heavens, who need- 
eth not as those high 
priests to offer up sacri- 
fice first for his own 
sins, and then for the 
people." Ep. Heb. c. 
vii. v. 26. 

"And as they were 
eating, Jesus took bread 
and blessed it, and brake 
it, and gave it to the dis- 
ciples, and said : Take, 
eat; this is my body. 

"And he took the cup 
and gave thanks, and 
gave it to them, saying, 
Drink ye all of it, for 
this is my blood of the 
New Testament, which 
is shed for many for the 
remission of sins." Mat, 



36 



THE MASS. 



The Church of Rome, 

the fowl of the altar 
scraped loith it, in case 
a particle should have 
fallen upon the altar, 
again a genuflection, 
the hell sounds, the peo- 
ple fall upan their knees, 
strike their breasts, 
pray, and worship the 
hostia) sd.ymg: ''take ye 
all of this, for it is my 
body." 

(In the mean time 
while that maneuver 
goes on, the hostia is 
transubstantiated in the 
blood, body, soul, and 
divinity of Jesus Christ, 
or in more intelligible 
words, the morsel of 
bread is instantaneous- 
ly changed into the Re- 
deemer of the world ; 
then he crosses on the 
bottom of the cup and 
also on the brim of it, 
and taking it in his 
hand, he breathes on it, 
and utters the rest in 
the same low voice, viz, 
'«In like manner after 
supper he took this no- 
ble calice into his holy 
and adorable hands, and 
after thanks to the Fath- 
er, he blessed, (there he 



The Bible. 

c. xxvi. V. 26—28; Mark 
c. xiv. V. 22, 23 ; Luke 
c. xxii. V. 19, 20 ; Ep 
of 1 Cor. c. xi. V. 2S> 



tola MASSi 



^1 



Wke (Church of Rome. The Bible. 

crosses again) and gave 
it to his disciples, say- 
ing, Take ye, and drink 

VOU ALL OF THIS, for 

this is the cup of my 
blood, a new and ever- 
lasting testament, a mys- 
tery of faith, v^hich shall 
be shed for you, and for 
many, for the remission 
of sins, so oft as you do 
this, you shall do it in 
remembrance of me." — 
(Then raising the cup 
over his head that the 
people may likewise 
worship it, he kneels 
upon his knees, and 
without touching any- 
thing with the fingers 
which touched the body, 
blood, soul and divinity 
of Jesus Christ, he kis- 
ses with outstretched 
arms the altar, eats the 
hostia and drinks all the 
wine, asks for more, 
says some other prayers 
and Christ is eaten up, 
and the people dismissed. 

Who can imagine my feelings at the disappoint^ 
ihent; the words of the consecration not only ma- 
liciously altered, but also ignorantly applied, by 
saying, ^^drink ye all ofit,^^ alluding to the wine 



38 TH£ MASB. 

instead of to the apostles, drink ye all thdlvltie of 
it, and the word shed, applying to the New Tes- 
tament, instead of to the blood of Christ j is absurd 
and laughable even to a beginner of the Greek 
language ; people who have Calmet and other ex^ 
pounders of the Scriptures, who teach the Greek 
in schoolsj should they not know that ^ict^axx' 
(testament) is feminine, and at/^uat (blood) is neu- 
tre gender ? It is impossible, it must be a wilful 
land deliberate deception. In addition to that, I 
found no sacred vestment ; no crossings ; no evo 
lutions whatever ; no breathing on the cup ; no 
mass in the Bible ; whom should I believe, the 
Bible or the church of Rome ? — certainly the Bi 
ble. My Roman Catholic brethren see, that it is 
not the spirit of Protestantism, or criticism, which 
induces me to write, but to call forth a spirit of 
investigation from the hearts of my dear Roman 
Catholic friends, is the only object. 

Though disappointed in my expectations, though 
the Bible contradicted the councils and the whole 
church, still it was impossible for me to make up 
my mind, and to decide against the church. There* 
fore I continued the investigation with regard to 
the PRAYERS, being an essential part of the mass ; 
in the hope that the church and the Bible would 
in that point agree. Here is the result of it. 



THE MASSo 



39 



The Church of Rome. 

The priest begins the mass 
with confiteor, &c. 

*'I confess to Almighty 
God, to blessed Virgin 
Mary, ever virgin-, to 
blessed Michael, the 
arch-angel, to blessed 
John the Baptist, &c., 
(and to you Father.") 
Ordin of the mass. 



After the introit, and 
the Kyrie Eleison he of- 
fers the following pray- 
er: 

"We beseech thee O 
Lord, by the merits of 
thy saints, whose relics 
are here, and of all the 
saints, that thou would'st 
vouchsafe to forgive me 
all my sins." 

A.t the oblation of the 
host, he prays: 

"Accept, b. Holy Fa- 
ther, Almighty and eter- 
nal God, this unspotted 
host which I, thy un- 
worthy servant offer un- 
to thee, my living and 
true God, for my innu- 
merable sins," &c. 



The Bihle. 



* *Against thee, thee 
only have I sinned, and 
done this evil in thy 
sight." Ps. li. V. 4. 

"Christ is able to save 
them to the uttermost^ 
that come unto God by 
him, seeing he ever liv- 
eth to make intercession 
for them." Ep. to Heb- 
c. viii V. 25. 



"There is none righti- 
ous, no not one." Ep^ 
Romans c» iii. v. 10. 

The blood of Christ 
cleanseth from all sin." 
Ep. 1 John c. i. v. 7. 



But this man (Christ) 
after he had offered one 
sacrifice for sins, /or ey- 
er, sat down on the right 
hand of God," Epist, 
Heb. c. X. V. 20. 

"Christ was once of- 
fered to bear the sins of 
many." Ep. Heb. c. ix. 
V. 28. 



40 



♦THE MABS. 



,The Chiirch of Rome, 

'Commemoration of the 
dead. 

"Be mindful, O Lord, 
t)f thy servants who are 
gone before us with the 
sign of faith, and rest 
in sleep of peace. To 
these, O Lord, and to 
all that sleep in Christ, 
grant we beseech thee a 
place of refreshment, 
light and peace." 

''Lamb of God, that 
laketh away the sins of 
the world, give them 
eternal rest."" Cation of 
the mass. 



St. Peter'' s Chair. 

"O Lord, w^ho by de- 
livering to the blessed 
apostle Peter the keys 
"of the kingdom of hea- 
ven, didst give him the 
power of binding and 
loosing, grant that by 
his intercession, we may 
he freed from the bonds 
of our sins." Missal. 
Roman. 



The Bihh. 

''Neither have thfey 
(the dead) any more a 
portion forever in any 
thing that is done (iil 
prayers, or in Masses, 
&c.) under the sun." — ^ 
Eccles. c. ix. v. 6. 

"Blessed are the dead 
that die in the Lord 
from henceforth. Yea-, 
with the spirit, that they 
7nay rest from their la^ 
bors." Rev. ^c. xiv. v. 
13v 



"Neither is there sal- 
vation in any other (but 
Chtist,) fot there is none 
other name under hea^ 
ven given among men 
whereby we must be 
saved." Acts Cw iv. v. 
12. 



Having found no passage in the Bible to sup- 
port even the prayers of the mass, my faitli be*- 



THE MASS. 41 

gan to shake ; my coRfidence in the siaeerity of 
the church to dimmish, and suspicion against 
spiritual tyranny awakened in my bosom. Now 
I know the reason why the reading of the Bible 
is forbidden, was the language of ,my heart, that 
the deception of priests might not be detected. 
My partiality to the church, and my prejudices 
lessened every day, and I became a more impar- 
tial inquirer after the truth of the gospeL So I 
could soon discern that the mass was not an in- 
stitution of the primitive churches, but a priestly 
fabrication of the Lateran Council in the year 
1214, and afterwards sealed with the thousand 
anathemas in the council of Trent. I evidently 
saw that if that doctrine had been the doctrine 
of the primitive ciiurches, would the council of 
Trent have been obliged to introduce it with so 
many " Let him be accursed?^'' Soon I discov- 
ered the shameful pervei-sion of the Holy Bible, 
and the privation of the greatest of ail privileges, 
the cup which the Lord gave to his disciples.' 

The consequence of all this was awful, I had 
no faith in the authority, and infallibility of the 
church; no confidence in the priests, but looked 
on them as spiritual tyrants. I became dissatis- 
fied with myself for having been so ignorant, and 



42 THE MASS. 

supei-stitioiTS, that I for so long a time, believ~ed 3 
lie. The Scriptures I believed to be the inspired 
word of Gody but it was a dead letter for me ; i 
read the Scriptures not to edify myself, or to ap- 
ply it to the state of my sinful heart, and troubled 
soul, but to find out the anti-biblical doctrines^ 
and other anti-scriptural practices of the church 
of Rome ; and after I had found new errors, I 
felt happy. In one word 1 was no Roman Cath- 
olic in heart, nor a real believer in the gospel of 
Christ; I was more a negative Deist, than a true 
Christian. 

What was my surprise, when I made known 
my thoughts to some priests, my intimate friends, 
to find that they were rank infidels. With the 
Scriptures they were unacquainted ; the doctrines; 
of the church they considered as human fabrica-^ 
tions ; and the ceremonies as forms without the 
spirit of godliness. They mocked at and ridicu- 
led things most sacred in the eye of a devoted pa- 
pist; they laughed at the ignorance of the poor 
and deluded people, and often expressed contempt,, 
even hatred against the spiritual tyrants. Such 
instances I witnessed many times. In Rome all 
is appearance and hypocrisy. But as soon as the 
heart can find another sincere heart, then the 



THE MASS. 43 

mask of appearance is thrown off, and in lamen- 
tations pours its sorrows into the bosom of the 
friend. In secret we sigh, and in public we are 
obliged to feast. But if the providence of God 
would deliver Italy from its temporal and spiritu- 
al bondage, the priests of Rome would be the 
first in the rank to defend the liberty of con- 
science, and that of the press, Voltaire, Rousseau, 
Macchiavelli, the novels of Boccaccio, Casti and 
other unchaste productions are constantly cherish- 
ed as food for the passions of the Priest's heart, 
and when among themselves these are the sub- 
jects of pleasing conversation. To say, " The 
Signora such and such a one, is the amorosa cif 
such a cardinal, or such a prelate is the cicisbeo, 
or lover of such, or such a lady. The priest so 
and so has two beautiful married sisters, he will 
soon become a canon," it is not very rare to hear, 
even in the presence of ladies. I found the ma- 
jority of the young priests negative infidels, or 
real sceptics ; immoral in their hearts, filthy with 
their tongues and hypocrites in appearance. That 
under such friends and companions, my christian 
progress was 7iot very rapid, is not to be won- 
dered at. 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

Transubstantiation is the principle transaction 
of the priest in the so called propitiatory sacrifice 
of the mass. I will not give my readers a disser- 
tation on that important subject, nor the opinion 
which I now entertain of it, or make a display of 
Biblical knowledge, which I have acquired since 
that time. I will only give a candid description 
of my feelings, when I at first begun to investi- 
gate the doctrines of the church of Rome, in the 
light of the Bible. 

I had been taught, that: " in the most holy sa- 
crament of the Eucharist, there is truly^ really , 
and substantially the body and blood, together 
with the soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. That the bread and wine are iniimediately 
changed into his body and blood, without any 
outward appearance of this change, which we 
only know hy faith. Though we see only bread 
and wine as before, we firmly believe that Jesus 
Christ is there in a miraculous manner, whole 
and entire under each of the two species, and un- 
der every particle, as under the whole without 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 45 

being multiplied and without ceasing to be in 
heaven." Creed of Pius the IV, 

I searched the whole New Testament, but found 
not an idea, not even an indication of any thing 
which would suggest the least thought of such an 
extraordinary change in the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper. 

The only passage which I found in my Bible, 
and upon which the whole fabric of transubstan- 
tiation is built, is the expression of our Saviour 
in the institution; saying: " Take, eat, this is my 
body ;" and giving the cup, saying : ''This is my 
blood,^^ Our Lord has not said, this represents 
my body and blood, but this is really and actually 
my body and blood. 

I thought it absurd to take that passage literally 
and others spiritually ; when every man of good 
sense, who possesses only the least knowledge 
of the Oriental languages, knows that figurative 
speech is common among them ; and that the dis- 
ciples understood it in the same figurative way. 
When Joseph was interpreting the dream of the 
chief butler and the baker in the prison, he told 
them : "the three branches of the vine are three 
days, and the three baskets are three days." 
They did not understand that the branches and the 



46 TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

baskets loere really, actually and truly days of 
twenty-four hours, but that they represented them. 
And when he interpreted the dream of Pharaoh 
he said: " the seven kine are seven years." Pha- 
raoh never thought that they are really, truly 
years, but that they represent the seven years. 
Daniel, when he interpreted the dream of Nebu- 
chadnezzar, said: '' Thou [O King] art this head 
of goldJ*'* He meant not that the king is really, 
truly, and actually transubstantiated into a head of 
gold, and the same time had the figure of a man, 
but that the head of gold represents the king. 
Even in our phrasiology, when an instructor 
teaches his pupils geography, he shows them a 
map, and says : " that is the State of New York, 
he does not mean that this is truly, really, and ac- 
tually transubstantiated into the State of New 
York, but that it represents it. Without multi- 
plying the examples, I found that our Saviour 
used in many instances a figurative language, say- 
ing : " / am the way ; / am the door ; / am thp 
vine." He never thought to convey the idea, to be 
really and truly transubstantiated into a Vine, or 
door, but that he represents it. 

My mind was deeply impressed at that time 
with some passages of the Scripture, Matt. chap. 



TRANSUESTANTIATION. 47 

5, V. 28 — 30. " I say unto you. That whoso- 
ever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath 
committed adultery with her already in his heart. 
And if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out, and 
cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee, that 
one of thy members should perish, and not that 
thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if 
thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it 
from thee, &;c." If one passage is to be taken 
literally and not figuratively, all of them ought to 
be taken in the same sense. " If thy right eye 
offend thee pluck it out; if thy right hand offend 
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee, <fec." It 
struck me if these passages should be taken liter- 
ally too, all the Popes, Cardinals and Confessors 
of Rome, would certainly go to heaven with one 
eye, and without a right arm. 

Having found no substantial proof in the Bible 
to support such a doctrine, I took my refuge to 
reason. I asked what is taught in that article of 
faith ? 

1st. That the wafer is changed into the body, 
soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, and still it re- 
mains in every respect a wafer. I reasoned with 
myself in the following manner ; that God can 
change one substance into another substance is no 



48 TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

doubt true, bat that it should be in the same time 
changed, and entirely unchanged, is an absurdity 
above all absurdities ; what would the Pope say 
if Protestants would teach that Lot's wife, who 
was changed into a pillar of salt, that she stopped 
there and in the same time remained a living wo- 
man, continuing her way with her husband and 
still being salt. Would the Pope not justly say, 
the Protestants are crazy ? and still that would 
only be a matter of opinion, it would not involve 
an article of faith as transubstantiation does. 
Have the Protestants not the same right in their 
turn to call us infidels, by putting forth such an 
arch-absurdity as an article of faith? 

2nd. We must deny the testimony of our own 
senses; we see, smell, anJ taste the wafer, yet 
we must believe it to be the flesh and blood, soul 
and divinity of Christ. And vice versa : we eat 
and drink the body, blood, soul and divinity of 
Jesus Christ, though we see and taste a wafer. 
That was really too strong food for my weak 
faith and too puzzling for my ordinary talents, I 
left therefore the enigma untouched. 

3rd. That, when Christ said : '' This is my 
hody,^'' we must believe, that he held his own 
body in his own hand, and yet had not two bodies 



TE.AT^SUBSTANTiATI0N. 49 

<©r two right hands, but only one body and one 
jcighi hand ; and that his body was visible and in- 
visible at the same moment. I could not compre- 
Jiend it, and even now, I defy Ignazio Lojola to 
be able lo shed a ray of light upon that chaotic 
•darkness. 

4th. We must believe that each of the twelve 
•apostles in succession, really, truly, and substan^ 
dally eat their Lord and master, who was visibly 
reposing at the supper table before them, without 
visibly entering into their mouths, but the bread 
only or the appearance of the bread, which they 
held in their hands, being visibly and in the same 
time apparently eaten by them. That was a laby- 
rinth out of which none but God could guide me. 

To believe such arch absurdities one must in- 
deed have great faith. 

After all this it struck me that transubstantiation 
was not known in the primitive churches. Many 
reasons led me to this conclusion, of which my 
mind was easily persuaded by the following proofs* 

1st. The advantages which \hQ Jirst christians 
had over the heathen by reproving them : *' That 
their Gods have eyes and see not, ears and hear 
not, mouths and speak not," is an evidence that 
they knew nothing of transubstantiation. Is it 
5 



50 TRANSUBSTAISTIATION. 

probable, that people who reproach the heathen of 
such an absurd idolatry, will worship a wafer in 
the shape of the real body, soul and divinity of 
Christ ? Would the heathen not have retorted the 
argument by saying : '' your God is subject to the 
same vicisitudes as ours ? He can decay, he can 
be carried away by the wind ; he can be stolen or 
be consumed by the flames. Moreover, your God 
is shut up in a little box, which priests carry in 
their pockets. As it was really the case in Paris 
in the church of St. Sulpice, where the golden 
box, in which the consecrated wafers were pre- 
served, was stolen, and the body, blood, and soul, 
and divinity of Jesus Christ with it. To strength- 
en the argument of the heathen, we find in the 
mass-book the rules, how the priests shall act, if 
the hostia should fall on the ground, or the priest 
should vomit it out; or should be eaten by a 
mouse, &c. St. Thomas d' Aquinas, the Seraphic 
Father, treats on the same subject.^ Could a Ro- 
man theologian, who maintains such doctrines, in 
the face of such facts reproach the heathen for 
idolatry, that their Gods cannot move and are sub- 
ject to destruction, as the primitive christians did ? 
What astonished me more was, that in the face of 

^Thom. d' Acquinas, lib. 3, quest. 77, art. 4. 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 6 1 

the numerous historical facts, which are known 
to every Roman Catholic, tlie scandal and horrible 
acts committed through the sacrament of the Eu- 
charist, [as the death of Pope Victor the 3d, who 
was poisoned with the cup. The Emperor Henry 
ihe VIL with a hostia* The Arch-bishop of York, 
who had the same doom in the year 1154,] they 
can still believe in and adore it. 

2nd. Another proof that transubstantiation was 
unknown in the primitive age, I deduced from the 
fathers against the heretics of their time, who de- 
nied the assumption of the humanity of Christ- 
Tertulius^ says : *' Jesus Christ took bread and 
gave it his disdiples, saying, this is my body, or 
the figure of my body ; if he would not have 
had a real body, he could not say, this is my 
body, for a phantom cannot be a representation 
of a body.'^ 

Ireneus'^ says : "If that would be true, that Christ 
had not an assumed human nature, the Saviour 
has not redeemed us with his blood, the cup is not 
the communion in his blood, and the bread not the 
communion in his body ; for blood can only come 

^Tertul. adv. Marc. lib. 4, chap. 40, circa ann. 215, 
*Iren. adv. heretic. 



52 ABSURDITIES OF THE MASS. 

from vei7is, Jlesh, and other substance& of man/^ 
If these fathers would have believed in the real 
presence of Christ in the hostia, would they have 
argued in that way ? w^ould th^y not have rather 
said : *' the Eucharist contains the body, blood, 
soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, consequently 
he was not a phantom, because we have his real 
body and blood in the sacrament ?" Would this 
not have been more convincing than to prove that 
Jesus Christ assumed humanity, because the sa- 
crament is a figure of his body ? From these and 
other authorities I could easily see, that transub* 
stantiation was not known in the primitive church- 
es, and is a new thing in the church, being the 
fruit of the dark age of the twelfth century and 
the growing power of the Pope. 



ABSURDITIES AND DELUSIONS 
OF THE MASS. 

If is with great reluctance that I bring forward 
these charges, as I can testify before God, that I 
have no pleasure in wounding the feelings of any 
man, but faithfulness to my Divine Master, and 
love to the souls of my Roman Catholic brethren 
constrain me to consider it a necessary duty. 



ABSURDITIES OF THE MASS. 53 

What can be a greater absurdity than, that the 

PRIEST IS MADE SUPERIOR TO ChRIST ? For nOt 

only is he made the creator of the Son of God, 
but he is so, when and where he pleases. It is 
sufficient that the priest puts on an alb^ a stole and 
a manipulum and repeats the words of consecra- 
tion over any piece of bread and it is changed 
into the body, soul and divinity of Christ, And 
as the offering up of the sacrifice depends on the 
intention of the priest, so Christ may or may not 
be presented to God for the living and the dead, 
just as the priest decides. Thus, in both points 
of view, the priest is made much superior to 
Christ, and if this is regarded as the calumny of 
a Protestant, I will cite the words of their own 
writers. Thus Gabriel JBiel, says, " whoever saw 
anything like this ? He that created me (if I may 
say so) hath given me power to create him, and 
he that hath created me is created by my means. "^ 
Hence he tells us of the great dignity of the 
priesthood. *« Passing by the bands of angels, 
let us come to the queen of heaven and lady of 
the world. The same, though in plenitude of 
grace, goes beyond all the creatures, yet she yields 

^Lect. de Missa (citante Du Mouhn.) 



S4 ABSURDITIES OF THE MASS. 

to the hierarchs of the church, (i. e. the priests,) 
in the execution of the mystery committed unto 
them."* 

" Incredible things 1 (says Peter de Besse,) but 
yet true, that the power of priests is so great and 
their excellency so noble, that heaven depends on 
them. Joshua stopped the sun, but these stop 
Christ being in heaven, in the midst of an altar. 
The creature obeyed the first, but the Creator 
obeys the last. The sun obeyed the one, and 
God the others, as often as they pronounce the 
sacred words. "^ 

This indeed is very strange language for the 
ear of a Protestant, but the Roman Catholics look 
upon the priests as something like God. Yea, 
they refer to him much more than to the true 
God. 

Under this head I will refer to some of the ab- 
surdities of the missal used by the priests, some 
of which I now cite. 

" Si Hostia consacrata despareat, vel casu aliquo 
ut vento, aut miraculo, vel ab aliquo animali ac- 
cepta et nequeat reperiri, tunc altera consecretur 
ab eo loco incipiendo qui, &c. 

^Fourth Lesson upon the Canon of the Mass. 
''^Besse chap. II. on the Royal Priesthood, 



ABSURDITIES OF THE MASS. 55 

♦' If the consecrated host should disappear, eith- 
er by some accident, or by the wind, or by a mir- 
acle, or be taken by some animal, &c. cannot be 
found; then let another be consecrated, begin- 
ning from the same place," &c. Sect. iii. 7. 

It is horrible even to think, that such an abom- 
inable doctrine should be taught and considered 
an article of faith. That Christ, who is now in 
a glorified state, may be at any time carried 
about by the winds of heaven, or even eaten up 
hy some animaL 

** Si musca vel aranea, vel aliquid aliud eecide- 

rit in ealicem ante eoRsacrationera, projiciat vi- 
aum in locum et aliud ponat in calice, misceat 

parum aquae, offerat ut supra et prorequater mis- 

sam ; si post eousacrationem ceciderit musca aut 

aliquid ejusmodi et fiat nausea saeerdoti, extrahat 

eam et lavet cum vino, finila naissa cumbucat, et 

combustio ac lotio hujusmodi in sacrarum proji- 

ciatur- Si aiitem non fuerit ei nausea, nee ul- 

ium perieulum timeat, sumat cum sanguine." — 

Sect. X. 5« 

" If a fly, or a spider, or any other thing should 

fall into the eup^ let him east the wine into a 

proper place, and let him place some more in the 

cup, mix a little water, offer it as before, and 



5& ABSUHBITIES OF THE MASSv 

proceeil with the mass. If a fly, or any tiling 
of this kind, should fall into it after consecrationv 
and the p^riest should feel a nau&ea, let him take- 
it out and wash it witli^ wine, and the mass being; 
finished, let him bu^n it and let the ashes and re^ 
fuse bs cast into the sacristy.. If however, he 
does not feel sick, or fear any danger, let hira 
take it with tbe blood." 

I will refrain from any remarks on the abov© 
section, they are abhorent to every idea we have 
of the Saviour's present exalted state. I bring 
tjhem only forward as tiie melancholy effects oi* 
human traditions. I shall cite oaly one more. 

" Si' aliquod venenatum contingent Hostiam^ 
consacratam, tunc alteram consecret, et sumat 
modo- que dictum est, et ilia servetur in- tabernac- 
ulo loco seperato, donee species eorrum pantur 
et corruptiCB deindte mittanttrr in sacn-arum." 

"If any poisoned thing should touch the con- 
secrated Host, then let him consecrate another,, 
and let him take it in the same way as was men-- 
tioned ; and let the former be kept in a separate- 
place until the species corrupt^ and so corrupted^ 
let them be cast in the sacristy," Sect x. 7. 

The priests themselves are ashamed of their 
own articles of faith, for m the Kom^M Missal 



DELUSIONS OF THE MASS. 57 

translated into English for the use of the laity, 
they are altogether omitted; and well they might 
be ashamed of such absurdities. 

Delusion is equally a fruit of the mass. If our 
hopes of God's favor on earth and of his glory 
in the world to come, be placed on a false found- 
ation, then we must be deceived, and delusion 
alone can be our portion. What benefit does a 
Roman Catholic derive from the mass ? Comfort 
for their immortal souls and remission of their 
sins, on the ground that Christ has been offered 
up for their sins. The question is whether this 
be true or false comfort. If the first, we should 
be sorry to deprive any of it ; but if the latter, 
we must say, "let no man beguile you." " Be 
not deceived.''^ With regard to the remission of 
sins through the sacrifice of the mass, we cannot 
but believe that it is a gross deception, because this 
work was finished eighteen hundred years ago 
upon the cross. Jesus died once, and he dieth 
no more ; and by his death he atoned for sin, and 
therefore the mass cannot be required. More- 
over it is a useless sacrifice, because the priests 
repeat it often, yea daily, and because it is noth- 
ing but bread and wine and without the shedding 



58 DELUSIONS OP THE MASS. 

of blood, which is essential to a propitiatory sac- 
rifice, and for all these delusions we must pay 
money I What merchandize of souls is this? 
What a painful deception ! 

Let Roman Catholics seek comfort in the mass, 
I am satisfied with the glories of calvary. Let 
them bow down and adore the wafer raised by 
the priests; I will cling to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
who died on the cross. Let papists trust in the 
daily repeated sacrifice of the mass for the remis- 
sion of their sins ; I am content with the finish- 
ed work and the all prevailing intercession of Je- 
sus Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father. 
Thither I will go for comfort, he shall be my hope 
in life and in death ; in him I shall not be disap- 
pointed, for his blood is most precious, and clean- 
seth from all sin. The name of Jesus shall be 
my strong tower, and in it I shall find safety. — 
Let Roman Catholics fly to their queen of heav- 
en, the Virgin Mary ; I will fly to the rock, Je- 
sus Christ, the only anchor of my hope, and then 
I shall be enabled to sing with all the redeemed, 

" Jesus thy blood and righteousness, 
My beauty are, my glorious dress.^ 
'Midst flaming worlds in thee arrayed, 
With joy shall 1 lift up my head." 



HEATHEN ROME AND PAPAL ROME. 

After this result of my Biblical researches as 
detailed in the preceding chapter, my eyes were 
opened ; my mind became unbiased, I celebrated 
the Mass because it was a source of income, I 
considered the Breviary a humbug and never re- 
peated it ; I practiced every form because I w^as 
obliged to do it ; in one word I did as others did. 
Every ecclesiastical event which I considered be- 
fore as a matter of established rule in the church, 
became now a subject of doubt and investigation; 
every day 1 detected new corruptions ; in the sa- 
cred college I saw spiritual tyrants and in every 
priest a spy whom I dreaded and fled as from a 
pest. Whenever an opportunity was offered I 
opened my mind to some friend, who felt the pa- 
pal yoke as heavy as myself; but of. what use? 
the evil was without a remedy, a word, a sigh is 
a mortal sin, and the result would be fatal to my 
future happiness. The reading of the Bible was 
no consolation for me, I read it to my own dam- 
nation, for I read it without prayer, without self- 



€0 THE PANTHEON. 

examination. As my intention is to institute a 
comparison between heathen Rome and papal 
Rome, I will at once proceed. 

The Pantheon is one of the oldest churches 
and of the most classical architecture in the city 
of Rome. In the time of heathen Rome it was a 
temple dedicated to all the Gods. Papal Rome 
has dedicated it to no God at all, but to the Virgin 
Mary only. The niches of that church in the 
time of heathen Rome were filled with the finest 
bronze statues, which represented [the Dii ma- 
jores] the chief gods. Papal Rome turned them 
out, and placed tutelar gods in their places, as 
St. Peter, John and James, &;c. Heathen Rome 
filled the niches of their temples with bronze 
gods, papal Rome with wooden saints. 

The reader will be curious to know what papal 
Rome did with these idols ? Whether they were 
burned, destroyed, or placed in the museum as 
relics of antiquity ? No ! Pope Barharini [called 
Urban VIII.] the Vicar af God, melted all the 
gods together, and metamorphosed them mio four 
collossal pillars of the Corinthian order, which 
raised their gigantic heads even with the cupola 
of St. Peters, and adorn the high altar where the 



THE PANTHEON. 81 

Pope celebrates the Mass. Poor gods ! poor 
Rome \' 

Returning to the Pantheon, I must observe that 

in the church there is a statue, which is called, 

*' La Madonna del Sasso,^^ in plain English, 

The Lady of the Stone, Why she is called so, 

'The Patnheon is the most interesting antiquity in 
Rome ; its elegance and grandeur exhibit the taste of 
the ancient Romans. This temple was erected by 
Agrippa^ son-in-iaw of Augustus, and repaired by 
Septimus Severus and Caracalla. The vestibulum is 
supported by sixteen Corinthian columns of oriental 
granite, fifteen feet in circumference and forty-two 
high. The original doors were vandalized hy Genseric, 
and lost in the Sicilian sea. The interior of the Pan- 
theon is circular, with one window only, and that in 
the centre of the dome ; by this opening which is on 
the roof, the edifice receives its only light- The dia- 
meter of the temple is one hundred and forty -three feet, 
exclusive of the walls, which are twenty feet in thick- 
ness. The high t was originally equal to the diameter, 
until the pavement was elevated to correspond with 
the new portico, which was made higher than the ori- 
ginal one. It would afford me great pleasure if I 
could describe the splendor of that temple before it 
was robbed by Urban VIII. from the family Barbarini. 

The Pantheon was dedicated to all gods. A statue 
of Jupifar Tonans, or the Avenger, stood in the centre 
of the tribuna; the infernal deities on the pavement, 
the terestrial on the lower niches in the walls, and the 
celestial in the upper niches. The walls were once 
adorned with busts, inscriptions, and monuments in 
memory of great men. Among the statues of the 
Pantheon, Pliny mentions one, which had ear-rings 
made of a pearl cut in two, being the fellow of that 
which Cleopatra dissolved in vinegar, and drank to 
the health of Mark Antony. 



62 THE ^ANTttEOI?. 

and how she came there, whether she entered tli^ 
church by a miracle or was carried there ^ I can-* 
not say, because I never ti'oubled myself about 
her origin ; but one thing I know, because all the 
priests in Rome say so, and all the devotees in 
the city testify to it^ that she is a great miraclef 
working lady. She howevef never wrought one 
for me, though I said many ave marias upon 
bended knees to hei^j but others who have been 
lame, blind, or paralitic, or labouring under somei 
other cronical disease, were [as they say] cured 
by her, so that the weekly income of the offering^ 
were over a hundred dollars, without the silvei* 
hands and feet, golden pins and chains, or othef 
costly ornaments, which those so cured bring to 
adorn her, as an act of pious gratitude. I hav6 
seen that Stone Lady dressed more elegantly and 
more costly than any queen or empress upon thd 
earth can ever be. It shows that the priests of 
Rome have much taste in dressing ladies. 

As the pleasures of this world are transitory^ 
so was the greatness of the blessed Stone Lady 
destined to be evanescent. It w^as a bright day, 
bright in every respect for the monks of St. Au* 
gustine, when the ladies and persons of all classes 
in the city of Rome directed there steps to the 



THE VIRGIN OF PARTURITION. 63 

church of the Augustine Friars ; even the less de- 
votional would not lemain at home, but would 
kneel at the foot, I should say before the pedestal 
of the immaculate Virgine del Parto^\n English 
a Vergin of Parturition *^'' To make the history 
short ; the monks of the Augustine order envying 
the canons of the Pantheon of the great income 
which the Lady of Stone brought, they devised a 
plan to draw the revenues of the Pantheon into 
the treasury of their convent. Having an old 
rough statue of a Madonna in the corridor of the 
convent, for many years covered with dust, they 
thought that lady would be more comfortably 
situated in the church; they appointed a day, 
which was extensively published and widely cir- 
culated, that the Lady of Parturition, who per- 
formed so many miracles upon several females in 
time of need, would be carried in procession to 
the church. The vanity of the ladies having been 
touched, they collected from all parts, and the 
Lady of Parturition became the lady of the la- 
dies. 

The canons of the Pantheon were alarmed at 
that trick, because the Lady of the Stone lost a 
great many customers, and the canons felt that 
loss in their pockets too, much more so as the 



64 THE VIRGIN OF PARTURITION. 

monks carried on business in a more skillful man- 
ner, and their revenues became incalculable* 

Three monks were constantly engaged, one 
with a stole over his neck and a maniple on his 
hand, who blessed the wax candles ; the other 
sold them to the devoted women, and lighted 
them before the Virgin of Parturition, the third 
was walking round with the purgatory box, and 
received the offerings. The great concourse of 
people brought as a matter of course a great num- 
ber of female penitents to the confessionals, who 
procured a great many Masses to be said to the 
Lady of the Ladies, who payed lady-like for it* 
The gifts which the Roman ladies [who are gen- 
erally very liberal to monks] brought her, were so 
great, that in a short time half of the church was 
garnished with jewels and ladies ornaments, so 
that it seemed more like entering the shop of a 
jeweller, rather than a temple of the living God* 
Even the young ladies gathered at all times in a 
large number before the Lady of Ladies, to try 
her miraculous virtues, praying her to procure for 
them husbands. The young gentlemen being 
sure to find the young ladies upon their knees in 
the Augustine church, became adorers of the lady 
as a matter of courtesy. So at every hour of the 



THE STONE LADY. 65 

day, but especially ia the evening until late in the 
night the adorers of both sexes filled the church. 
The poor Stone Lady m the Pantheon was 
placed in the most critical pecuniary state, her in- 
come [as I have been informed by a canon of that 
church] was not more than twenty dollars a month. 
The canons being in a desperate financial state, 
they brought an action of irregularity, against 
the Lady of Parturition: "being not canonised, 
she has no right, nor power to work miracles, 
moreover the miracles she had performed already 
were no miracles at all, not having received the 
sanction of the Pope the head of the church, con- 
sequently cannot have the approval of her beloved 
Son." 

Scarcely had this transpired, before it spread 
like fire through the whole city, and became the 
subject of conversation in every circle, the railings 
against the priests and monks, the laughing of the 
young people, the mockings at the ladies ; the 
pasquinades and scandals are not to be described. 
Every one was anxious to see the end of the trial. 
Some avowed that the lady of the monks must 
shut her counting house, for if the church would 
sanction such an abuse, every stone could be ador- 
ed and worshiped. The church only [said the 
6 



65 THE STOI^E iiADT. 

priests] is the jiwlge of a true miracle, and not ih^ 
person who preterwls to have been the subjeet oi' 
it. Others argued the contrary ; they believed 
that the power of the que«n of heaven cannot be 
limited, she can manifest it wheie and when she- 
likes. The church in canonising a Madonna doe& 
not authorize or sanctimi, but recognizes it as anj 
act of free meicy of the heavenly queen. 

The retired monks troubled themselves verv 
tittle about the corruptions of the world, or the 
avariciousness of the canons, not even about the 
destitute state of the Stone Lady in tlie Pantheon^ 
and continued to light and to sell their wax can- 
dles, to sing litanies and to spread abroad new 
miracles of the great lady. The monks whispered 
it in the confessionals, proclaimed it at the altar, 
cried about it from the pulpits. Nothing had been 
neglected on the part of the monks. The confes- 
sors gave no other penance than so many ave ma- 
rias to the holy Virgin Lady ; the preachers ex- 
tolled her perfections. They edilied the people 
in their masses with commemorations to the mer- 
cies of the Virgin Mary. The people of good 
sense understood it, and valued it as much as it 
was worth. The Roman ladies felt themselves 
grossly offended at this insult on their protectress 



PAPAL ROME AND HEATHEN ROME. 67 

in the hour of need ; and sympathized with the 
humble monks. Even the young ladies blushing- 
ly said : *' in spite of the canons we will visit the 
Madonna del Parto," and agreed to meet their 
beaux at the Augustine church, 

I cannot tell how things went at the secret 
council of the Curia, but the result, which was 
propagated with the celerity of lightning was, as 
many had expected : namely, That his Holiness, 
the Pope Leo XIL decided in favor of the Virgin 
of the Parturition and granted to the greater en- 
couragment of the faithful, plenary indulgence of 
so many days, «fec. 

My readers will think this a romance, I guar- 
antee the truth of the narrative and assure them, 
that for the sake of decorum I have not told the 
half. Every traveller who has been in Rome, 
can attest the fact, that even at this day, the un- 
canonized lady in the Augustine churcli is wor- 
shipped by all classes of the inhabitants of Rome. 

Now what is the difference between heathen 
Rome and Papal Rome ? The' first brought of- 
ferings to Minerva and sacrificed to Diana. The 
second offers donations to the stone lady, and 
says masses to the lady of the Parturition. The 
first bowed down and worshipped their godesses. 



68 CARDINAL GIUSTINIANI AT RIMINI. 

Papal Rome gives the same adoration and per- 
forms the same devotional acts to their female 
god, which they style the queen of heaven. 

That Rome lost the faith of the primitive 
church, there is no doubt ; that the practices of 
that church are heathenish, none can deny. In 
Rimini the principal city of the Romagna, or pa- 
pal province, there was an old custom, that a cer- 
tain miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary (I do 
not remember her name) was carried in proces- 
sion every corpus Domini with a crown upon her 
head; being considered the protectress of that 
city ; she was adored by all the citizens. The 
cardinal Giustiniani, who was appointed arch- 
bishop of Rimini forbade that the Virgin Mary 
should have a crown any longer upon her 
head. The reason he gave was simply, that: 
" she is not yet canonizecV^ He had no other 
object in view, than that the citizens should pro- 
mise to collect a hundred tlcousand dollars as a 
fee for the canonization ; he would write in the 
mean time to Rome for a dispensation (which 
would be another source of revenue for the Vati- 
can,) until the sum could be collected, which 
would entitle her to wear a crown. But the mag- 
istrates of that city would enter intio no agreement 
whatever, requesting his Eminence to grant their 



CARDINAL GIUSTINIANI AT RIMINI. 69 

Protectress the privilege to wear a crown, a privi- 
lege which she enjoyed for a long series of years, 
but all was in vain. The cardinal would not 
grant it, except they applied for a dispensation to 
the Pope 

The day of the procession arrived ; the cir- 
cumstances were known in the neighborhood, the 
people came from all parts, some to revenge the 
wrong which had been inflicted upon the miracu- 
lous lady, others out of curiosity ; but it is suf 
ficient to say, that the city of Eimini never wit- 
nessed such a spectacle before, and 1 trust it never 
will again. 

The procession began, the friars of all colours 
marched on in their ranks ; the respective compa- 
nies in their masquerades followed the monks and 
friars ; soldiers in arms accompanied the train ; 
the priests and canons of the Cathedral joined in 
the procession, then, alas ! the Virgin Lady Mary 
was carried out of the church without a crown, 
but had seven stars in a half circle over her head. 
Why the number seven had been chosen I do not 
know, but that twelve thousand dollars had been 
staked in the lottery upon the number seven is a 
melancholy fact. 



70 CARDINAL GIUSTINIANI AT RIMINI. 

Scarcely had the statue appeared in the street, 
when the people stoped the men who carried her 
and would not allow that she should be carried in 
such a dishonored manner in procession. The 
soldiers tried to disperse the crowd with their 
muskets, but all in vain. The enraged multitude 
wounding a soldier, it was found necessary to 
make use of bayonets, by which means they in 
their turn wounded some of the citizens, and in 
the crowd injured also some females ; the mob 
became furious, throwing stones upon the soldiers 
and crying vengeance against the priests. The 
commander ordered them to fire upon the people, 
many of whom were mortally wounded, even un- 
offensive women and children ; then the cry : 
'* Morte ai preti," death to the priests I was heard 
in all directions ; the priests with their stoles es- 
caped from their ranks ; the screams of the chil- 
dren, the lamentations of the wives in behalf of 
their husbands; the running of the monks, the 
explosion of the muskets, was a melancholy sight. 
At the time that the tragedy was going on, a part 
of the mob ran to the episcopal palace, where the 
cardinal resided, rushed like a flood into the pal- 
ace : " Morte al tiranno,^^ death to the tyrant, 
was heard from every mouth ; fortunately he had 



THE HOLY STAIRS. 71 

time to save himself through the garden. Not 
finding the cardinal, they broke all the furnituie, 
dashed it through the windows and burned it in 
the middle of the street. 

The news went to Rome ; the panic was ex- 
ceedingly great; the Pope feared a revolution; 
soldiers were ordered in the same night to leave 
Rome for Rimini, to terrify the agitated spirits of 
the mob. The Pope by a special decree graci- 
ously ordered, that the authors of that tragic 
scene, who had disturbed the public peace should 
be severely punished, and a plenary indv.Igence 
to all, who say so many ave marias to the Vir- 
gin Mary, who shall henceforth have the privi- 
lege to wear a crown. Here we must say with 
Virgil : '' Magnum Jovis incrementnm," or with 
the inhabitants of Ephesus ; " great is Diana of 
the Ephesiens." 

If I could accompany my readers through the 
city of Rome, I would lead them upon mount 
Janiculum, now called 8t. John of Lateran ; 
there they would find a chapel, where they would 
see thousands of people crawling up a high flight 
of stairs upon their knees and kissing every step 
with the Rosaries in their hands, until they ar- 
rive upon the last step. The priests tell us that 



72 THE HOLY STAIRS. 

this is the holy stair-case which Christ ascended 
when he appeared before Pilate, which has been 
carried by angels from Jerusalem to Rome.* But 
I must not forget to mention, that the crawling 
upon the knees must be occompanied with some 

'The celebrated scala santa or holy stairs, contains 
twenty-eight white marble steps; it is said to have 
belonged to the palace of Pilate, at Jerusalem, and to 
have been trodden by Jesiis Christ. They were cov- 
ered with wooden boards by order of Clement XII. to 
prevent their being worn out by the multitudes of de- 
votees ascending them on their knees. There is a 
great deal of mysteriousness and false sacredness 
thrown about the whole edifice which contains these 
stairs; there are several secret apartments, which are 
kept constantly locked. One of them (the priests 
says,) ** contains the most precious and most sacred 
relic of Christianity. Some say, it contains the feath- 
er of the seraphic Doctor, with which he wrote his 
works, which an angel brought him ir) his study." 
Others say, *' the feather of a wing of the arch-angel 
Gabriel, which he left when he saluted the Virgin 
Mary ; a bottle of the Virgin Mary's milk. A bottle 
with tears of our Saviour, shed at the grave of Laza- 
rus ; the cord with which our Saviour was bound at 
the pillar when scourged," &;c., the fact is, no body 
knows what that edifice contains ; you will not find 
even the oldest of the priests, who ever troubled him- 
self about it, and still he maintains, that some holy 
thing is in it. There Luther, the glorious reformer, 
once basely crawled upon his knees to purchase an 
absolution; but the light of eternal truth had previ- 
ously dawned upon his mind, and the words, *'//^e 
just shall live by faith,'''' sounded like thunder in his 
ears while he was on the very stairs. He arose in 
horror from his servile debasement and from that mo- 
ment walked forth a free man, vowed to exhibit the 
fraud and wickedness of exacting such penances, and 
to publish the truth as it is in Jesus. 



1?HE •FLYl'KG STONE, 73 

^hns foi: the souls in Purgatory. The Apostle 
-Paul said to the -Romans of his time, that not 
through the wojks of the law, nor through our 
^own righteousness '^re we -saved, but throvigh faith 
4n Jesus Christ. The so-called Vicar of Christ, 
says the contrary; we are saved by crawling up- 
x)n our knees, or by performing some other works 
of self-righteousness. 

I would lead my readers into a chtarch near St. 
^Sebastian, there they will find a square stone of 
white marble, upon which the impression of two 
Ceet are seen, to whicTi the people pray and cover 
with kisses, being [as we are told] the stone 
where our Lord was standing, when he met the 
apostles after his glorious resurrection. We are 
informed by the priests at Rome, that the stone 
came flying in the air from Jerusalem to Rome, 
and remained where it is now. Plenr.ry indulgence 
is granted to every one who says certain prayers 
\o that Hying stone. 

I would continue to lead my readers into a cel- 
lar of a chapel near the mount Tardea, which i« 
said to be the prison of the apostle Paul, the very 
place where the jailor was converted; there they 
. will see a spring in the middle of the cellar, which 
sprung up in a miraculGiis way in-order to baptize 
7 



74 si'. PETER IN VINCULIS, 

him aitd his- family. That water has great hea^-- 
ing virtues } Brandretli's a^cl Morrison's pills are 
mere quackery compared v/ith it.^ It is good for 
the inflammation of the eyes if washed with it^ ?Asn 
for pulmon^a if regularly taken and some prayerfs 
be repeated at the time. That water is bottled 
and sold for the spiritual and temporal welfare ©f 
the faithful. 

I would continue to lead my readers into ^• 
church not far from the ansient Forum Romanunt^ 
called St, Peter in vhiculis, where the priests as- 
sure us that they are in the possession^ of thi? 
identical chain with which the apostle Peter wars 
fettered before his crucifixion in Rome. There 
is a discrepancy of historical tradition with regard 
to the manner in which that chain came into thai 
church ; it would however be too ridiculous to re^ 
late all those legends which are afloat. 

In the same church is to be seen the pillar to 
which our Saviour was bound, when he w^ass 
scourged before his crucifixion. One of the 
Catholic sovereigns asked Gregory the VII. for 
some holy relic, and the Pope caused a peace ©f 
the pillar to be broken off and sent it to his ma- 
jesty, but the fragment disappeared, and in the 
morning the pillar was entire ; it had returned ©f 



COLOSSEUM ROMANUM^ 15 

its own accord and joined itself again in such an 
artful manner that it can scarcely be seen. This 
chain and pillar are adored, kissed, prayed to by 
the people of Rome, who receive plenary indul^ 
gence for their devotion to it* 

If my readers are not tired, I will accompany 
them to the amphitheatre Flavianum, now called , 
"the Colosseum Bomanum,^^ a building which 
was erected by the emperor Flavian, by 60,000 
Jews which he brought captive from Jerusalem < 
It is properly called Colosseum, for it is colossal 
in its dimensions, colossal as a living monument 
of the fulfilment of the prophecies. A theatre in 
which the first martyrs of the cross were exposed 
to the fury of wild beasts, and sealed with their 
blood the truth as it is in Jesus, in the presence 
of a hundred thousand spectators, which that 
building could conveniently contain. Now my 
readers will find in that splendid relic of antiquity 
and Christianity a miserable hermit with a box in 
his hand, to the annoyance of the passengers^ 
begging for souls in purgatory* 

I shall not leave the Colosseum, without show- 
ing my readers another, not less barbarous act of 
the infallible Pope of Rome. The Pope Barba-^ 
rini had a nephew, who asked from his holiness 



76 COLOSSfeUM feOMAKltM. 

his uncle the permission to carry of!* some stoii^d 
from the Colosseum. The Pope [as it is histori- 
cally reported] did iiot at first give his permission 
for three strong reasons. First. It was not his 
property^ it belongs to the State. Secondly. It is 
too holy to make use of it for any profane object* 
Thirdly. It is such a splendid piece of antiquity 
that it cannot be equalled in the world* But his 
nephew giving him no rest until the Pope [iii 
spite of all these sound reasons] gave him the 
permission to take as many as he could carry off 
in one night. That wretch demolished in one 
night a third part of that relic, which the tooth of 
time could not destroy, and the hand of the norths 
ern barbarian dared not touch, and carried off in 
one night as many as were required to build that 
splendid palace Barbarini, one of the most mag- 
nificent in Rome* Let us turn our eyes from that 
scene of which barbarians were ashamed, but 
which the Pope Barbarini [the little barbarian] 
was able to perpetrate, aiid direct our steps to the 
Roman capitol. Let us traverse the Forum Ro- 
manum, now called : '* Campo Vaccino," the 
field of the cattle^ where Cicero harangued the 
Roman citizens. In passing the Viu Apia, thd 
road where the Roman conqueirors entered in tri- 



THE CAPITOL OP ROME. 77 

umph, we shall leave at our right the ruins of the 
most splendid Temple of Peace, in which the 
riches- of heathen Rome were preserved, and from 
which when in flames the melted gold flowed in 
streams into the streets ; but as the Virgin Mary- 
has wrought no miracle in that temple, it was left 
to its own destruction, and scarcely a vestige of 
the beautiful architecture is to be seen. At our 
left we shall leave the mount Palatinum, where 
the ruins of the palaces of Roman emperors are 
yet to be seen, in which the begging hermits have 
made their nests, and trouble the visitors with 
their Purgatory box, fabulous legends and mira- 
culous stories. 

But let us ascend the capitol of the city of the 
world ; the place where the voice of the Roman 
senators caused the inhabitants of the earth to 
tremble, is now changed into a mournful and nas- 
al sing-song of Franciscan friars. Look at that 
high stair-case fwith forty steps] leading to 
the Franciscan convent ; see those fanatics who 
ascend upon their knees, and at every step say an 
Ave Maria to the Virgin Mary, that she might 
tell them in a- dream, what numbers they shall 
take in the lottery, that they might gain a terno^ 
In the face of the nineteenth century, in the pre-* 



78 THE CAPITOL OF ROME. 

sence of the sacred college and infallible Pope, 
such heathenish devotions, absurd adorations and 
foolish religious acts, should be tolerated, of which 
we have no example in the history of heathen 
Rome. Encouraged by the monks and friars, tol- 
erated by the sacred college, in order to draw the 
last pence from the pockets of the poor into the 
treasury of the Camera Apostolica, by a false 
hope, that the Virgin Mary will tell them the 
numbers which will he draion in the next lottery! 
The spectacle is too shocking; the principle too 
bad to dwell longer upon. We shall turn our 
steps towards the sanctum sanctorum, in the place 
where no profane foot can enter, no profane eye 
penetrate; it is the manufactory of ignorance and 
superstition ; it is the machinery of popery, to 
draw the wealth of the faithful dispersed in the 
world, into the pocket of the Pope. You are 
anxious to know what it is? It is the place where 
the relics of saints are manufactured. As I can- 
not introduce you into the secret walls of that un- 
hallowed place, and show you the bones of dogs 
and cats, heads of old Roman soldiers, which 
have been excavated in the different parts of 
Rome, and rags of all sorts and colors, which are 
sold for relics of saints. 



HELIC CHAMBERS^ T9 

I will give some specimens of Papal deceitful- 
siess, which are known to every Roman inhabi- 
tant. You must know, that a tooth of the holy 
.Agatha, if carried about the body, or adored 
upon the altar, is a preventive of tooth-ache. — 
Pius VII. ordered by a special decree, (I do not 
•know if it v/as because sorae abuses were made 
of it, or to make the article more valuable, that 
rail the relics of St. Agatha., in every part of the 
world should return to Rome, and in the space of 
eight months, two bushels of teeth, all of the 
holy Agatha were restored to the Relic Chambers 
in Rome. 

The relics of the cross and spears, with which 
^ur Saviour w^as pierced, are so nunaerously scat- 
tered throughout the world, that if all were gath- 
-ered and joined together, a house might be built 
with them ; and if the heads of Johi the Bap- 
list, the nails and hammers, scattered upon the 
.globe, which the priests give out as genuine,-— 
'were gathered upon a vessel to brii^.g them to 
Rome, it would have a very good cargo, and 
would need no ballast. 

If I were to lead my readers to the confession- 
als, where the confessors are surrounded by inno- 
#2eRt youths of both sexes, who think not of fly- 



80 CC^TJlFESSIOKiil., 

ing from sin, but how to commit it, tl'iey wotilcl 
be astonished. If the confessor were only S' 
judge of that which i\w penitent accuses hiaiself,., 
I would say nothing, but the confessors are like^ 
lawyers before the bar of justice, Vv^ho cross ex- 
amine and confound the witnesses m order that 
they might commit themselves. Such is the con- 
duet of the confessors in the wooden tribunal. 

To give an authentic proof of what is taught 
to students of divinity, who are obliged to lead 
a life of chastity and perpetual celibacy. I wilt 
quote from the standard work of Dens' Theology,., 
taught in. E7nmiitsbnrgy. a seminary in Maryland 
in the United States.^ 

I. " Quinta species luxuri^ contra naturam^ 
committitur quando quidem copula masculijit irb 
vase feminse naturally sed indebito modo, w 
g. stando, aut dum vir succumbit, vel a retro femi- 
nam cognoscit, sicut equi congrediuntur, quamvis^. 
in vase femineo." 

II. '^Possunt autem he modi inducere peccat- 
lam mortale juxta periculum pordendi semen, ea 
quod scilicet semen viri communiter laon possit 
efFundi usque in matricem feminse." 

^Peter Dens. De modo contra nataram No. 295^ 



CONFESSIONAL. 81 

III. *'Etquamvis forte conjuges dicant, quod 
periculura diligenter prsecaveant, illi interim las^ 
civi modi a gravi veniali excusari non debent, nisi 
forte propter impotentiam, v. g, ob curvitatem ux- 
oris, nequeat servari naturalis situs, et modus, qui 
est ut mulier succumbat viro." 

Queritur, " Quid agere debet is qui sub pol- 
lutione in somno inchoata evigelat?"^ 

R. " Evigilans non potest ei ullum consensum 
prsebere, sed potius dissensum, seu displicentiam 
voluntatis formare debet." 

Q. " An tenetur illam polhdionem in somno 
inceptam^ mox it vigilat, vi cohibere suumque 
corpus comprimere, ne continuatur iii vigi^ 
liar' 

R. "Cum Antoin: tenetur, saltern ut pollutio 
non continuetur per efFusionem seminis nee dum 
e lumbis, vel ex testiculis extravasati. Sanchez^ 
Billuart, alliique videntur permittere continua- 
tionem ob periculum infirmitatis ; sed omnino 
puto, eos dieere solummodo de semine jam extra- 
vassato, nimirum ut exterius effluat : alioquin non 
licet proraovere formalem, nequidem ad evaden*' 
dam mortem." 

»Ibid, De pollutione, No. 296. 



82 CONFESSIONAL. 

'' Confessarius prudens omneni evaded invidi- 
am hac methodo : dam puella confitetur se esse 
fornicatam, confessarius petal, an prima vice, qua 
simile peccatum comisit, exposuerit circumstan- 
tiam amissoe virsfinitatis." 

"Si respondeat categorice, ita, vel non, cessat 
difficultas ; et quidem si jam sint primag vices 
statim reponet, jam fuisse primas vices, adeoque 
solum ei dici debet, ut conteralur de ilia circum- 
stantia, et earn confiteatur ; si taceat, instruatur 
illam circumstantiam totius seme] exprimendam, 
adeoque si it nunquam fecerit jam desuper doleat, 
et se aocuset.'*^ 

My female rerders will excuse me for insert- 
ing the authorities in Latin, I hope they will at- 
tribute it to the esteem which I have for their 
virtue, and also to self respect, that I do not dis- 
cuss in my pages such principles, which will and 
must injure the morality of my young readers. 

Every honest Roman Catholic, who has fre- 
quented the confessional, must have experienced 
its immoral tendency for youth, especially fe- 
males, and T ain astonished, that in this free coun- 
try, husbands can see their wives and daughters 
frequent the confessional, without trembling for 

'Ibidem, No. 287. 



CONFESSIONAL. 83 

their virtue. The above details should be suffi- 
cient to compel every father of a family to abhor 
the confessional, as obnoxious to morality. If 
decency would allow it, I could write a volume, 
of which I have had personal experience, and of 
what I have been informed by others, who had 
the same melancholy experience. One instance 
I will relate, though with great reluctance, but be- 
ing of a character, which can be related without 
grossly offending the ears of my readers, I will 
mention it. 

In the family where I boarded in Florence, was 
a young lady, about seventeen years of age. Her 
parents gave her a good, but above all, a religious 
education. One day the mother told her daught- 
er to prepare to go with her to-morrow to con- 
fess and to commune. The mother unfortunate- 
ly, feeling unwell the next morning, the young 
lady had to go by herself; when she returned, 
her eyes showed that she had wept, and her 
countenance indicated that something unusual had 
happened. The mother, as a matter of course, 
inquired the cause, but she wept bitterly, and said 
she was ashamed to tell it. Then the mother insis- 
ted ; so the daughter told her that the parish 
priest to whom she constantly confessed, asked 



84 ' ST. ANTONY IN ROME. 

her questions this time wHich she could not re- 
peat without a blush. She, however, repeated 
some of them, which were of the most licentious 
and corrupting tendency, which were better suit- 
ed to the lowest sink of debauchery than the con- 
fessional. Then he gave her some instructions, 
which decency forbids me to repeat; gave her 
absolution, and told her before she communed, 
she must come into his house, which was contig- 
uous to the church; the unsuspecting young crea- 
ture did as the father confessor told her. The rest, 
the reader can imagine. The parents furious, would 
, immediately have gone to the arch-bishop, and 
laid before him the complaint; but I advised them 
to let it be as it was, because they would injure 
the character of their daughter more than the 
priest. All the punishment he would have re- 
ceived, is a suspension for a month or two, and 
then be placed in another parish, or even remain 
where he is. With such brutal acts, the history 
of the confessional is full. 

If I could lead my readers on the 17th of 
January to the church of St, Antoin in Rome, I 
am convinced, they would not know whether 
they should laugh at the ridiculous religious per- 
formances, or weep over the heathenish practices 



t)i[ the church of Eome. He would see a priest 
in his sacerdotal garments, with a stole over his 
neck, a biush in the right handj and sprinkling 
the muleSi asses and horses, with holy water, and 
praying for them and with them, and blessing them 
in order to be preserved the whole year from sick- 
ness and death, famine and danger for the sake 
and merits of the holy Antony^ All this is a 
grotesque scene, so grotesque that no American 
can have any idea of it, and heathen priests 
would never have thought of it. Add to that, th^ 
great mass of people, the kickings of the mules^ 
the meetings of the lovers, the neighings of the 
horses, the melodious voices of the asses, the 
shoutings of the multitude, and mockings of the 
protestants, who reside in Rome, and you have a 
Spectacle, which would be new, entirely 7iew, not 
only for American Protestants, but for the heath^ 
en themselves, and must be abominable in the 
eye of God. The reason why cows, calves and 
oxen are excluded from the privilege of being 
sprinkled with holy water, and receiving the pray^ 
ers of the priest, and the protection of St. An* 
tony, I never inquired; and why these gentle- 
men, viz. the horses, asses and mules, are so 
highly distinguished among all the quadrupeds, I 



86 THE OPENING OF THE EYES 

can not say ; perhaps those who are more verseet 
in the canons of the councils, will be able to give 
the reader light on that subject. But enough ; 
the subject is too serious ; it is a religious exer- 
cise, practiced by the priests of Rome, in the 50- 
called metropolis of the christian world, sanction- 
ed by the self styled infallible head of the church 
of Rome. All we can say is: "Ichabod, thy 
glory is departed." The priests of heathen Rome 
would be ashamed of such a religious display in 
the nineteenth century. 



THE OPENING OF THE EYES OF THE 
VIRGIN MARY. 

In Rome there is preserved a gigantic mask of 
the face of a man, in the church of Sta, Maria in 
Cosmodin, according to the declaration of the 
most scientific antiquaries, it is called^ " La hoc* 
ca della verita," the mouth of truth. In heathen 
Rome, when a man swore, he was obliged to put 
his right hand into the mouth of that gigantic 
mask ; if what he swore w^as true he could with* 



OF THE VmenlJT MARY. 87 

draw his hand ; if false, his hand was bitten off 
by that monstrous mouth. ^ There is no doubt, 
that the priests bad some cutting machine in 
the inside, or some person hidden in it, who 
performed the operation, and cut off the hand 
of the perjurer. Papal Rome is worse, it is 
more intriguing and far more cruel than the 
heathen priests ; it cuts off not only one handj 

^The church of Santa Maria in Cosmodin, stands in 
the Foium Boarium. It received this epithet Cosmo" 
din, from its having been overcharged with orna- 
ments when Adrian rebuilt it in the year 728. This 
edifice stands on the ruins of the ancient temple of 
Pudiciiia Fatricia, or Chastiiy, Plebeians were ex- 
cluded from this temnle. On account of this fact 
Virginia^ the wife of Volumnius, erected the temple 
of Fudicitia Fleheia^ at her own home. She was 
herself of noble birth, but had to adopt the station of 
her husband, who was a Plebeian. The pavement is 
of beaLtiful porphyry, and the high altar of led 
Egyptian granite; the columns of the interior are of 
antique marble. There is a discrepancy of opinion 
among the antiquarians, with regard to the use 
of the ugly mask of marble, which stands in the 
porch. Some say, "It served as the mouth of an 
ancient fountain." Others suppose, that oracles is* 
sued from this mouth, therefore it is called: i' Za 
bocca della verita^'^'' (the mouth of truth.) But it is 
generally supposed that it represents Jupiter, and that 
persons put their hands in the mouth of it when they 
made oath in court, and that the mouth closed upon 
all perjured persons. There is a com.mon saying in 
Rome, "that women never put their hands into it, 
for it was sure to close." That is no compliment to 
the ancient Roman ladies. 



88 THE CPtlNlNGl OP 'THE EVES 

but millions of souls, as the following fact will 
sufficiently show. 

The people of Rome are not so dull and stu* 
pid as the priests desire to have them. The se* 
cret police in the confessional, the paid spies iil 
the public establishments, and the multitude of 
gens d'arms can terrify them, but cah not enchain 
their minds, nor fetter their intellects. Satires 
against the canons of the Pantheon, pasquinades 
against the Pope^ and publicly ridiculing the 
monks, were the order of the day. If the Inquis* 
ition would have attempted to imprison all the 
violators of the priestly laws, they might as well 
have made a roof over the whole city, and written 
upon the doors of it: "Career Romanorum," 
the prison of the Romans. But soon they found 
a remedy to divert the minds of the people, and 
draw their attention to some other object, though 
not less absurd and heathenish than the above ; 
but that is immaterial only if it serves to accom* 
plish the desired object. 

A great rumor was sounded abroad: "that in 
^ certain church, situated in the parish of the 
Madonna di Monte, an image of the Virgin Mary 
had opened its eyes." The story originated in 
Uie following manner. Ah old, but pious woman 



OF A VIRGIN MARY. 89 

praying fervently to that image, and looking 
steadily at it, she observed, that the image was 
moving its eyes toward her ; she immediately in- 
formed the father confessor of it, who approach- 
ed the altar to ascertain the truth of the miracle, 
and he saw it also, so clear, that there remained 
no doubt, whatever, that the image did open its 
eyes, and moved them about in all directions. 

TJie reader must know, that the church where 
that miraculous image was to be found, is situated 
in the darkest corner of the city, where the low- 
est populace are crowded together. It lies in the 
valley between the two mounts, Quirinum and 
Janiculum. It was not difficult to make them 
swallow any absurdity, which they are ready to 
defend with their blood. The mass of people 
who assembled in that section of the city was im- 
mense. Day and night the church was crowded. 
I saw it, when hundreds of sick folks were car- 
ried upon couches into the church ; one of them 
particularly attracted my attention; he was a tall, 
consumptive man, more like a skeleton than a liv- 
ing being, supported by two friends. As soon as he 
was placed in the middle of the church, all the 
people cried as with one voice: " Abbiate fede ! 
abbiate fede !" have faith! have faith! and the 
8 



90 THE OPENING OF THE EYES, &C. 

skeleton left the shoulders of his friends, who 
supported him, and advanced with a firm step to- 
wards the altar, where he sunk exhausted to the 
ground- The shouts, *' have faith in the mercy 
of the holy Virgm! rise, walk! he not discour- 
aged! and similar expressions were heard, but 
all was useless. It was not difficult, as I stated 
before to make people like these believe every 
absurdity. One thing was worthy of notice, that 
no respectable and enlightened person, saw the 
miracle, not even all the priests, but they said: 
" That men of bad dispositions, or t!ie sceptic, or 
those who had not sincerely confessed, or had no 
faith, could not see it. " I have been one of 
those, whom the Virgin Mary would not look at, 
though I was anxious to see th^ miraculous 
movements of the eyes of the painted picture. 
Every movement of the Virgin Mary's eyes had 
its signification. From the pulpit, like sounds of 
thunder in a dark night, the most frightful events 
were predicted. '' Frodigium canity et trisies 
demmciat iras^ Pestilence, famine and destruc- 
tion were the indications of the moving of the 
eyes. Penance ! penance ! w^as the watchword 
of the priests and monks, as the only panacea for 
the great evil; I asked myself, what is the diiler- 



BEATIFICATION. 91 

eiice between heathen Rome and Papal Rome ? 
Theirs/ used mtrigues to purify the community 
of perjurers; the second uses it to establish a lie. 
Heathen Rome had its temple of Apollo in which 
the oracle of Delphis prophesied. Papal Rome 
has its {mas;es which fortell future events. 



BEATIFICATION OF A FRANCISCAN 
FRIAR. 

Like children who must be amused and delight- 
ed in the daily change of play things, so Roman- 
ists are entertained by their priests, by a daily 
change of new amusements. I say amusements, 
for the papal worship is nothing but that. We 
read in history that before the fall of heathen 
Rome, one could easier find a god than a man in 
the streets. In papal Rome, there are more saints 
than inhabitants, and their number is daily aug- 
menting. 

Scarcely had the frolic of the moving of the 
eyes of the image ceased, when another ecclesi- 
astical entertainment was produced. The Fran- 
ciscans had a friar who, had been living among 
them a hundred years ago, and who at that time, 



92 BEATIFICATION. 

performed a great number of miracles. His or- 
der, begged the sum of one hundred thousand dol- 
lars, to have their brother friar beatified, which 
his holiness Leo XII. granted after having receiv- 
ed this sum as a fee. At the same time we must 
do justice to the friars ; they were very careful 
not to collect the money in the papal state, but in 
Spain where the friar was born. 

A beatification is not a daily nor even an an- 
nual occurrence because it is very expensive. Pro- 
testants must not thinli that saints grow like mush- 
rooms after a rainy season, no ! they must be at 
least a hundred years old. They must not think 
that a saint is some upstart or pauper; by no 
means; he must be able to pay the minimum fee 
of a hundred thousand dollars, before he receives 
permission to be a saint. Being therefore such a 
rare occurrence, it is no wonder that young and 
old, rich and poor turned out to witness the exhi- 
bition. 

The day on which the beatification was to take 
place, the Pope descended from the Vatican into 
the church of St. Peter's, followed by the whole 
sacred college, in great pomp and magnificence ; 
nothing was spared which was calculated to im- 
press the senses of the immense multitude. The 



BEATIFICATION. 93 

bishops were in their pontifical garments and cov- 
ered with their mitres ; the Pope himself presid- 
ing as the supremus episcopus, or the bishop of 
bishops, had only the mitre upon his head ; in that 
pompous manner the mass was celebrated by the 
Pope, and when he arrived at that part where the 
collects of the saints are said; the Pope [by a 
special bull] declared the friar, of whom thi^ee 
miracles had been scrupulously investigated, to be 
a saint^ with all the privileges to work miracles 
when and wherever he pleases.^ At the same 
time the cooks and friars were very busy in pre- 
paring a good dinner for the cardinals, prelates 
and other illustriors guests. In the afternoon his 
holiness went in great pomp to the church of the 
Franciscan convent, where the painting of the 
new saint was exposed for the adoration of the 
people. He kneeled before that very being whom 
he had created a saint, and adored that very paint- 
ing, to the original of which he had a few hours 
before granted the privilege of saintship and the 
permission to perform miracles. After the invo- 

^ Before the canonization takes place, //^ree miracles 
are brought before the curia in trial, where a prelate, 
called '' the BeviPs ^dvocate^^ pleads against them, and 
examines the evidences of the miracles. 



94 BEATIFICATION. 

cation of his new manufactured saint, his holiness 
graciously entered the convent and admitted tlie 
whole family to Jdss his holy foot, or rather his 
holy slipper. 

To satisfy the great mass of the people who do 
not understand latin, the three approved miracles 
were exhibited in painting at the facade of St. 
Peter's, in order that they might see what had 
been the miracles for which he was elevated to 
the glory of being saint. Among the largest and 
most conspicuous, was the one which represents 
the sainted friar seated in the kitchen of a tavern, 
and warming himself at the fire at which the land- 
lady, who had the reputation of being a very un- 
charitable woman, was roasting birds for her 
guests. After an interval of a short time, the lady 
was obliged to leave the kitchen, when the friar 
[not being as yet a saint] took the roasted birds 
from the fire, and after holding them one by one 
up in the air, they immediately received life, be- 
came covered with feathers and flew about in the 
kitclien. The woman entering and seeing that 
spectacle, fell upon her knees and would have 
worshiped him; but the friar said unto her: 
*' Woman give all the glory to the Virgin Mary." 



BEATIFICATION. 95 

As a narrator I will make no remarks on this 
peculiar case ; my object is only to show the spirit 
of the Roman population, that they are not so ig- 
norant as some travellers have described them, 
and not so bigoted as they appear. 

Scarcely was the painting displayed to the eyes 
of the people, when a general burst of laughter 
filled the air; even the ladies who are not averse 
to the miracles of friars, considered it very puerile. 
Their disapproval was not expressed in secret, 
but in the presence of the spies, and openly in 
broad day to the mortification of the priests. I 
heard it said: "the friar has eaten the roasted 
birds and let fly some living one which he had in 
his large sleeves." Others more serious asked : 
" What benefit has that miracle conferred on the 
human family, for Christianity, or even for the 
tavern keeper?" A great many in a joking man- 
ner said : " that miracle resembled verv much 
those of the Jesuits at St. Dom.ingo, when they 
asked only [for the love of the holy Virgin] a lit- 
tle boiled water, which they poured upon toasted 
bread, and soon the fragrance of that dish filled 
the house. The people were astonished, that the 
water should be changed into such delicious food. 
They [the Jesuits] told them: " give all the glory 



96 BEATIFICATION. 

to the holy Virgin who performed the miracle ;" 
and in secret the good fathers ipnt preserved meat 
and concentrated broth as ingredients of the mira- 
cle into it. Similar anecdotes, abounding in face- 
tiousness and wit were publicly related. 1 tremb- 
led for them ; I was apprehensive that the gens 
d' arms would lay hands on them. But the dis- 
approbation being general, the police were over- 
awed and dared not touch them ; otherwise they 
would have been massacred on the spot. 

The result of that censure was not less humi- 
liating than the censure itself. The next day 
another painting was placed in its stead. But for 
all that the effect of the blunder was not removed. 
Like the ass in the fable, who clothed himself in 
the dress of the shepherd, whose long ears betray- 
ed him, that he was even in the cloak of the shep- 
herd nothing but an ass. Such was the effect 
which the change of the picture produced. 

We read in history many deceptions practiced 
by the heathen priests, but that in papal Rome, 
under the garb of Christianity, such intrigues 
should be perpetrated in the nineteenth century, 
is too revolting even to narrate. If the apostle 
Paul, who withstood Peter to his face in Antioch, 
because he was blamed of having dissimulated 



THE PATRIARCH AI^D THE 97 

und walked not uprightly, according to the gos- 
pel;^— what would that apostle say, if he could 
appear again upon the palatinum, and see the in- 
trigues, deceptions and corruptions of the so-called 
Vicar of Christ in the so-styled chair of Peter? 



THE PATRIARCH OF EGYPT AND THE 
HORNED PRIEST. 

The following is a narrative which I published 
in the Lutheran Observer during the last year, but 
as that journal is not read by Roman Catholics,! 
will insert it here, that they may hear something 
of the infallibility of their supreme pontiff. 

The blunder of the miraculous birds was too 
great; the impression it left too strong to be easily 
effaced, they immediately put forth a new specta- 
cle, new in every respect in the history of Popes, 
and I may safely say new in the history of heath- 
en Rome. 

In the Propaganda fide are educated mission- 
aries for the countries of the East; there are 
usually from seven to eight hundred pupils in it, 
many of whom are taken when nine years old, 

^Galat. c. 2, v. U— 14. 
9 



9S HORINED PB.IEST, 

and educated imtil ihey reach tlieir twenty-fomib 
year. Among the boys there educated was an 
Arabian youth, fifteen years of age, whose talents 
were not of a very superior order. One day a^ 
letter arrived by mail, directed to the Prefect of 
the Propaganda, sealed with the state seal of the 
Pasha of Egypt, in which His Highness in a very 
friendly manner complimented his holiness. Pope 
Leo the XH. requesting him to consecrate the 
Arabian boy Bishop of Alexandria. The Pre- 
fect of the Propaganda as soon as he read the letter, 
ordered his state carriage to the Quirinal palace,, 
where the Pope was at that time residing. Leo 
received the message with dehght, he thought the 
riches of Egypt were already hoarded in the trea- 
sury of the Vatican ; he immediately convoked 
the Sacred College and desired their counsel oa 
that important subject. Some of the cardinals 
argued in favor of the consecration, believing that 
the Arabian boy must be an illegitimate child of 
the Pasha, otherwise he would not thus distin- 
guish a christian and a youth with such honors^ 
Others argued the contrary on the same ground,- 
as the councils and canonical laws strictly forbid 
that the dignity of a bishop should be enjoyed by 
a bastard. Another irregularity was in the way ; 



I'Hte fATItlAltCtt AKD THE 99 

the boy was not even of age, and still more that 
he was ignorant. But Pontifex omnia potest^ 
the Pope can do all things, even metamorphose 
ignorant heads into wise oneSj the boy was, in 
spite of all the illegalities and irregularities, de^ 
clared by Leo XIL not only Bishop but Patriarch 
of Egypt. 

The priests promulgated it with great joy ; the 
triumph of Christianity, the advantages of the 
church of Rome, and the pecuniary profits to the 
holy seat, all was mentioned that could swell the 
song of gladness. They had the audacity to say 
publicly, in the presence of ladies, '' that the 
Arabian boy was an illegitimate child of the 
Pasha*" And many Roman mothers, ["not heath- 
en, but christian Roman mothers] envied the Ara- 
bian lady the honor of having such a distinguish- 
ed lover. In short, I was an eye witness of the 
consecration as performed by Pope Leo XIL ; I 
saw that Pope kneeling upon the first step of the 
altar in St. Peter's church, to receive the blessing 
of the boy cehbrans, or as he was called "the 
Boy Patriarch," at the end of the ceremony of the 
consecration. In the history of Popes, we never 
find a similar occurrence, that the Pope himself 
should have consecrated a bishop. 



100 IIOENED PRIEST. 

The Pope gave the boy Patriarch a monk of 
the Paolotti as a secretary, who was also to be his 
tutor, under whom he had to finish his education. 
He wrote also through the Secretary of State, a 
complimentary letter to the Pasha of Egypt, to 
inform His Highness that his wishes were all punc- 
tually fulfilled, and that the new Patriarch of 
Egypt would soon leave the papal shore for his 
new destination. The Propaganda fitted out the 
Patriarch in the best style ; sacred vases, episco- 
pal ornaments and gifts for the Pasha were pre- 
pared ; a vessel was chartered in Civita Vecchia 
upon which the boy Patriarch and whole suit 
were embarked. 

We shall leave the young Patriarch on his voy- 
age, and direct the attention of the reader towards 
Egypt. The Pasha received the dispatches of 
the Pope, and could scarcely understand their con- 
tents. After a due examination of the documents, 
the Pasha became furious, he immediately ordered 
the father of the boy Patriarch to be imprisoned, 
who as it was supposed had forged the signature 
of the Pasha, and was without any further inquiry 
decapitated, and an order was issued that the Pat- 
riarch with his whole suit should meet with the 
same fate, as soon as they landed on the shores of 
Egypt. 



THE PATRIARCH AND THE 101 

The ambassadors and consuls of the christian 
courts, wrote to all the ports to inform the mitred 
voyager of the danger which awaited him. The 
merchants did the same. Fortunately a contrary 
wind drove them [I do not exactly remember if 
it was on the island of Malta, or on one of the 
Ionian islands,] where they received information 
of the predicament into which they were placed. 
The monk of the Paolotti immediately resumed 
the authority of the master instead of secretary ; 
he ordered the captain to return, and treated the 
poor youth not as a boy Patriarch but as a school 
boy. On one occasion the poor creature resented 
the tyrannical treatment of the monk, who gave 
him a slap in the face ; the servants who saw it 
lost their respect for him, so that the poor young 
man in a short time was driven to despair. In 
that state of mind, he determined to escape upon 
an English vessel, and to place himself under the 
protection of the British flag. If he would have 
done that openly, he might have saved himself; 
but being inexperienced in the world, [in addition 
to this the fear of his monkish tyrant,] he resolv- 
ed to escape at night and take with him the sacred 
vessels and the gifts, which he had for the Pasha 
of Egypt. But a servant whom he thought faith- 



102 ' HORNED PRIEST. 

ful betrayed him, and in the act of his escape he 
was taken, and wishing to hide his guilt, conceal- 
ed the sacred vessels. 

Now the monk, who envied the mitre of the 
boy became the master ; he put the poor patriarch 
in confinement, chained him in the cabin, until 
they reached the port of Civita Vecchia, where 
the monk wrote to the cardinal Zurla, the Vicar 
of the Pope, intimating to him that he would not 
leave the vessel, until His Holiness recompensed 
him for the faithful services he had performed, 
and the dangers he had encountered for the wel- 
fare of the church. The Pope was obliged to 
give him the mitre, in order to stop the mouth of 
the monk. 

Now in order to bring the victim to Rome with- 
out incurring the ridicule of the people, the Pope, 
and the sacred college to cover their blunder and 
ignorance, invented a story of which Satan him- 
self would be ashamed. It was related as a pos- 
itive fact, by the priests in the confessional, as 
well as in society, in the pulpit as well as in the 
streets : " That in a certain village, a poor wo- 
man was to be buried, but that the parish priest, 
who was very avaricious, would not perform the 
burial, because her children could not pay the fee. 



THE FATRIARCH, &a, 103 

Two 0f her sons were obliged to dig the grave 
in the night, where they found a treasure ; the 
next day they came to the priest paying him the 
fee, and also a sum for a number of masses, 
which the priest was to celebrate for the soul of 
the deceased, to be delivered from the pains of 
Purgatory. The priest asked them from whence 
they received the money ; they revealed to him 
^he fact of having found a treasure. The priest 
wisbdng to rob them of it, took the fresh hide of 
an ox, and covered himself with it, so as to ap- 
pear as the devil, in order to frighten the poor 
boys. But when he returned with the treasure, 
and was about to undress himself, lo 1 the horns 
of the ox's hide remaided fixed upon his head, and 
that on the morrow night, the horned priest would 
be brought into the city, and placed in the prison of 
the Inquisition. So it was ; a close carriage ac- 
companied by gens d' arms in which the poor 
boy Patriarch was placed, and was brought into 
the prison of the Inquisition under the name of 
the horned priest, drove into the city. There he 
was tortured, in the presence of the students of 
the Propaganda, dispatriarchized and condemn- 
ed to death ; but Pope Leo XII. graciously com- 
muted the sentence of death into imprisonment 
for life in the Fort of St, Leo, 



104 INFALLIBILITY. 

If my Roman Catholic brethren could know 
all the intrigues and strategems, which are re-^ 
sorted to in the church of Rome, in order to 
be made prelates, they would blush to call them 
shepherds. It is a proverbial saying in Rome r 
'^To become a prelate you must have one of the* 
thi^ee devils to aid you. You must have a white 
devil, or a yellow devil, or a red deviL The 
white devil is the protection of a woman ; the 
yellow is gold ; and the red, the protection of a 
cardinal. The narrative of the above stated fact^ 
needs no comment, no parallel even in heathen 
history is to be found. The council of the infer- 
nal recesses could not produce, nor invent a more 
execrable falsehood, to blindfold the eyes of men 
in order to destroy their souls. 



INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE. 

In the face of such inconsistencies of the Pope, 
blunders of the sacred college, corruptions of the 
priests, and intrigues of the monks, it was no 
wonder that I began to doubt the infallibility of 
the Pope, and to inquire upon what grounds the 
pretended infallibility is based. The Pope legit- 



INFALLIBILITY. 105 

imated the Arabian boy, and removed all the dis- 
abilities arising from his unfitness on account of 
his presumed ignoble birth, by a special dispen- 
sation, ordained the boy, who had not yet arrived 
at the canonical age, and invested him with the 
power to confer sacred orders on others. He 
dispenses the monastic orders from submis- 
sion to the diocesan bishops, absolving faithful 
subjects from the obedience to their legitimate 
sovereign, children from all obligations towards 
their parents. These were the subjects which 
occupied my mind, and became a matter of close 
investigation. How can the Pope dispense chil- 
dren from submission to their parents without an- 
nulling the ten commandments of God? How 
can he dispense the servant from obedience to his 
master without subverting social order? How 
can he authorize subjects to break the sacred ties 
which bind them to their sovereign, with impuni- 
ty? How can he withdraw the sheep from the 
flock, without exposing them to the danger of be- 
ing destroyed by the wolf? How can he dis- 
pense the members of the monastic orders from 
their obedience to the diocesan bishops, without 
destroying the order of the hierarchy ? These 
and similar contradictory acts, which have been 



1 06 INFALLIBILITY. 

the cause of so much blood-shed, gave rise in my 
mind to the inquiry of the assumed infallibility of 
the Pope. 

I took the Bible, searched the whole New Tes- 
tament, in order to support the papal power ; I 
say support, because my intention was not to 
leave the church of Rome. The infallible pow- 
er of the church through her head, the Pope, was 
the only link which chained me to it, and it is a 
very powerful one. 

The passage: "Thou art Peter, and upon 
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it;" and that pas- 
sage, " Lo I am with you always, even to the 
end of the world;" were not sufficient for me, 
upon which to base such an unlimited power ; I 
could not see in them that the Lord spoke of 
Popes, because Peter had the privilege of being 
the first of the apostles, he was not thereby ap- 
pointed a Pope, nor had he a successor. To sat- 
isfy my conscience by examining the direct line 
of apostolical succession was too delicate, and 
even superfluous for a Roman, who had been ac- 
quainted with the son of Pius VII. and read the 
letters w^hich he had received from his father, 
written to his mother when cardinal Chiara Monte; 



15^ FALLIBILITY. 1 07 

a Roman, who had a personal acquaintance with 
the Pope Leo Xll. when a cardinal, knowing him 
to be a gambler, licentious, and even debauched. 
One who was acquainted with the scandalous his- 
tory of immoral succession in the papal seat, was 
not much disposed, nor did not feel it so neces- 
sary to investigate that subject. 

As ray intention is not to reveal, but to give 
only the grounds of my doubts of the apostolical 
succession at that time, I will state that I examin- 
ed the fathers of the church and viewed the mat- 
ter in the light of sound reason. 

In that conflict I sought for the opinions of en- 
lightened authors as Origin, Eusebius, Hieroni- 
mus, Chrisostomus, Isidor, Baronius and Tertu- 
lian, which I carefully read and studied on that 
subject. I found that after the Holy Spirit had 
descended upon the apostles, they dispersed into 
all parts of the world, and preached the gospel to 
all nations. St. Peter preached in Judea, in An- 
tioch, in Capadocia, in Bithanien, and according 
to the tradition of the papal church also in Rome, 
Sf. James, son of Zebedee, preached also in Ju- 
dea and in Spain. St. John inAsia Minor. St. 
Andrew in Scythia, in Thracia and in Achaja, 
St, James, the brother of our Lord preached in 



108 ANTiaUITY. 

Jerusalem. St. Phillip also in Scythia and Phry- 
gia. St. Bartholomew in Judea and Armenia. 
St. Matthew in Ethiopia. St. Thomas pieached 
in Parthia Medea, in Persia and among the Brach- 
mans, Hircaniens and other nations. St. Simon 
preached also in Persia and Mesopotamea. St. 
Jude in Egypt. St. Matthew in the upper part of 
Ethiopia. The apostle Paul and Barnabas in dif- 
ferent parts of Europe and Asia; none of them 
had been subject to the others, not even under the 
direction of one another, much less under the 
jurisdiction of the apostle Peter. 

As the church of Rome bases her infallible 
power upon her antiquity, Catholicity, and apos- 
tolical succession, I purpose examining each of 
them separately. 

If the authority of antiquity be conceded as a 
test of its infallibility to any church, it ought to 
be to that of Jerusalem, because that church was 
founded by our Saviour himself. There the ever- 
lasting gospel was heard from the lips which spake 
as never man spake ; there he exercised his high 
sacerdotal power and episcopal office ; there he 
offered himself up as a ransom for our sins and 
for the sins of the world. There the operations 
of the Holy Spirit were manifested on the first 



ANTiaUlTlr. 109 

day of Pentecost. Jerusalem was called by the 
ancient writers^ " the mother of all other church- 
es, ^^^ Even Antioch has greater claims than Rome 
for the primacy, if ever a primacy should exist, 
being the first church the apostle Peter governed, 
and where the disciples were called christians for 
the first time;^ which Chrisostomus calls : ^'the 
capital of the christian world.^^^ 

If the mother is older than the daughter ; the 
source older than the stream from which it flows ; 
the Greek church has certainly the claim to be 
the oldest ; being founded by the apostle Paul and 
St. Andrew, from which the spirit of Christianity 
flowed as from a sacred fountain, and extended 
over many nations and kingdoms. Another very 
important historical consideration convinced me 
that Rome has no claim of primacy upon the 
ground of her antiquity, because the history of 
the councils themselves testify that the church of 
Rome received the New Testament, the creed of 
the apostles, that of Nice and that of Athanasia 
from the Greek church, and that until the time of 

^Theod, Hist. lib. v. chap. 9, atque in lib, 4, ann, 
382, etiam Baronius ad annum 382. 

^Acts of the Apost. chap. 11, v. 26. 

^Chrisost. Horn. 3 ad populum Antioch. 



110 ANTiaUiTY. 

Bishop Britontius/ The council of Trent ilsell^ 
recognized her as the mother of the church of 
Rome. 

Having found nothing in the writings of the 
fathers and ancient historians, which gave the 
church of Rome any title to that boasted antiquity 
of which she vaunts so much, I begun to reason 
with myself in this way* If the doctrines and 
the practices of the church of Rome are anti-* 
scriptural, will they become better when they 
number five hundred or more years existence? 
Or is the truth less truth, because it cannot show 
that it has been acknowledged centuries ago ? If 
a man would build a house upon the land of his 
neighbor, without having any title to that landj 
can he claim that property as his own, because he 
intruded upon the rights of his neighbor for many 
years ? So it is with the truths If an error is 
received and accredited from the beginning of the 
world, will a long series of years give any advan- 
tage and weight to that error ? or give a right to 
those who believe it, to remain in that error for 
no other reason than because it is an old establish- 
ed error ? Certainly not. Error can never change 
into truth even though it exists until the end of 

^Hist. Concihi. 



ANTiaUlTY. 1 11 

the wofid, but rather crescit ewido, like a chronic 
disease which increases in malignity in proportion 
as it approximates to its consummation ; thus it 
is with the pretended antiquitj of the church of 
Rome. 

It is certain that the heathen are the most an=^ 
cient worshippers of their idols ; who will contend 
that because their idolatrous worship is the most 
ancient, it is the most true and infallible ? Is it 
probable that the primitive christians ever advanc- 
ed such an argument to the heathen, that the most 
ancient religion is the most true ? Would the 
heathen not have boasted of the antiquity of their 
worship ? But we read the contrary, St. Cyprian 
says : " that antiquity has no influence in religi-^ 
ous matters if it is not accompanied with the 
truths ^ To show that the ancient prevalence of 
idolatry is nothing but an error of antiquity, he 
adds : " if an error would be sanctioned because 
it claims antiquity, no crime would be too litde 
which could be committed without impunity, for 
the thief would say that my ancestors were also 
thieves and corrupt." 

That such a doctrine upon which the church of 
Rome builds her infallibility was not known to 

* Cyprian Epist. 74, cont. idolatr. 



112 AKTiatJlTV. 

the prophets, is evident from the words of the 
prophet Jeremiah/ when he reproached the Jews 
for their sinfulness, and called them to repentance, 
he says : " thou art Gilead unto me and the head 
of Lebanon ; yet surely I will make thee a wil- 
derness and cities which are not inhabited. And 
I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one 
with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy 
choice cedars and cast them into the fire. And 
many nations shall pass by this city ; and they 
shall say every man to his neighbor, wherefore 
hath the Lord done thus unto this great city ? 
Then they shall answer, because they have for- 
saken the covenant of the Lord their God and 
worshiped other gods and served them." This 
clearly shows that the kings, priests, and the peo- 
ple had no right to continue in sin, to despise God 
and his holy word, because they had despised it 
for a long time. Our Saviour himself preached 
against that principle, and maintained that the an- 
tiquity of a thing is no proof of its being truth. 
For when the scribes and pharisees gloried in 
Abraham, who was their father, he told them that 
their genealogy extends still further back, that 
they are children of the devil. 

Uerenaiah, chap. 23, v. 6, Ibid. chap. 32, v. S0--35. 



AKTiaUITY. 113 

The church of Rome condemns my reasoning. 
She says: ''The infallibility of the church of 
Rome is a doctrine of faiths I must believe it, be- 
cause the church says it, and because the church 
who is the oldest of all other churches, believes 
it. Here I must confess, that on that point I am 
a rationalist. Suppose some one has to make a 
payment to a merchant, and gives him certain 
coins, of which the merchant knows not the val- 
ue, can that man condemn the merchant if he en- 
deavors to find out the intrinsic value, by weigh- 
ing the gold pieces ? Or if he tries it, in order 
to assure himself if it be pure gold ? Would 
that be sufficient reason for the merchant, if the 
other would say : " It is a very ancient coin, it 
has been preserved in the family for several cen- 
turies?" Certainly not. The merchant would 
say, " This may be all true, but there are many 
ancient coins, which are false." Suppose that 
man would insist, and condemn the merchaift for 
not believing in his word, and trusting in his in- 
tegrity. Would the merchant not have good rea- 
son to suspect the sincerity of such a man ? Thus 
it was with me, when I read the canons of the 
council of Trent, and they said, «' That whoso- 
ever denres the infallibility of the church of Rome, 
10 



114 ANTiaUlTY. 

let him he accursed.'^ I suspectetl the truth of 
that doctrine, and had good reason to doubt it. 

But the church of Rome teaches: " That the 
bishops, who are the legitimate pastors of the 
church receive the Holy Ghost, who is the spirit 
of truth, therefore they can not err." I will not 
employ my reason with regard to the Holy Spir- 
it, but submit my reason to the living AVord of 
God, which teaches me that the doctrine of the 
church of Eome, by limiting the Spirit of God 
only to the bishops, is false ^ because St. James 
says :^ *' If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask 
of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
braideth not, and it shall be given him." That 
again shows that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of 
wisdom is given not only to the bishops, but also 
to all men, who will ask for it. My dear Eoman 
Catholic brethren see, that it was not, and is not 
the spirit of protestantism, which directs my pen, 
but the love of truth and of your immortal 
souls, and above all to show you how the Spirit 
of God enlightened my mind. 

*Ep. James c. i. v. 5. 



CATHOLICITY OF THE CHURCH OF 
ROME. 

The Church of Rome glories in the name, 
Catholic (universal) church. She boasts of the 
multitude of believers in her doctrine. I heard 
from my youth the loudest panegyrics upon the 
numerous conversions, and believers in her doc- 
trines. I thought if that is really the case, it 
would show, that it is accompanied by the out- 
pouring of the Spirit of God. With these feel- 
ings I searched the statistics of the world* to see 
if that boasted multitude be really so great. 

I found that the population of the world is 
eight hundred and five millions of souls, of which 
those who profess Christianity, taking all denomi- 
nations together, are two hundred and twenty 
millions of souls. I separated the chaff from the 
wheat, the heretics and schismatics from the pa- 
pists, and found that the numbers of the Papal 
church are much smaller, than those of the (areek 
church, and not as much as those of the Protest- 
ants in the world. 

In Asia the christians are numerous, but few 
recognize the authority of the Pope. The chris- 



116 CATHOLICITY OF THE 

tians in Palestine are under the jurisdiction of the 
Patriarch of Jerusalem, The Armenians and 
Georgians, have their own patriarch. The Cir- 
cassians, and those of Asia Minor are under the 
jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. 
The Jacobites, and all the other tribes this side, 
and on the other side of the Caucasus have their 
own Patriarch, and are by no means under the 
power of the Pope. 

The South of Africa belongs to the Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church of England. The Chris- 
tians oi^ Egypt, mid the Cophts are under the Pa- 
triarch of Alexandria. The Ethiopians, and 
Abyssynians have their own Patriarch, and have 
not submitted to the authority of the Pope of 
Rome. 

America. The north of it is nearly all Pro- 
testants, though the immigration from Ireland and 
Austria overflows the Union, still the Protestant 
immigration overbalances it, and it can with cer- 
tainty be styled a Protestant country. 

Europe; where Rome once deposed kings, 
and obliged them to come barefooted, and with 
uncovered heads to the door of the Vatican, has 
nearly deserted her. Russia has not recognized 
her. Moldavia, Croatia, and Valachia belong 



CHURCH OF ROME. 117 

to the Greek church. England, Denmark, Swee- 
den, Holland, Prussia, Darmstadt, Curhessen, 
and all the other small principalities are Protest- 
ants. France rejected the authority of the Pope, 
and assumed the name Galilean church. We see 
that Rome has no more to boast of her Catholici- 
ty, than it has of her antiquity. 

The above facts, strong as they are, were not 
sufficient to obliterate an impression, which had 
been made from my youth ; I thought it my duty 
to examine the fathers, and make use of my own 
reason and judgment. 

If we establish the principle, that the multitude 
is a sign of an infallible and true church of God, 
we must conclude, that in the time of Enoch and 
Mraham, there was no true church upon the 
earth ; that in the time of our Saviour and the 
apostles, there was no true church in existence; 
and even when anti-christ shall come, there will 
be no true church, and what is more horrible to 
think, that the church of anti-Christ will be the 
only true one ; and in the time of the persecution, 
the martyrs and confessors did not constitute the 
true church, but the Jews did, v/ho crucified our 
Saviour. This would be the natural consequence 
if we receive the principle, upon which the church 
of Rome bases her infallibility. 



118 CATHOLICITY OF THE 

St. Augustine says :^ '* That there was a time 
when the true church had been included in the 
person of Abel, and in another period in the fam* 
ily of Noah." 

In the time of the Arians, Theodosius says :* 
That the Emperor Constantinus spoke of Athan- 
asius as being one of the greatest wretches upon 
the earth, " Who art thou (said the Emperor to 
Liberius) that thou comest with that wretch, to 
trouble the rest of the earth ?" 

St. Hilarius reports :^ That in the whole Pro- 
vince of Asia, there was only the bishop Eleu- 
sius with a very small number of persons, who 
remained firm in the truth. 

St. Hieronimus affirms:'* That in the whole 
of Orient, there was only Athanasius, and 
Paulinus, with very few, who have not followed 
the heresy of Arius ; that the true church has not 
been composed by Arius ; and the multitude of 
his followers, but by the very few, viz. Athana- 
sius and Paulinus. The answer of Liberius to 

^Augustin. Enaratio in ps. 128. 
^Theodosius Hi-st. Lib. IL 
•^Hilar. cont. Auxent. 
'^Hieron. cap. 58, adv. Lucif 



CHURCH OF ROME. 119 

the Emperor Constantinus will settle the whole 
controversy. " The word of faith (says Liberius) 
is not diminished by the small number who pro- 
fess it, even if it would be limited to one per- 
son."* And according to the testimony of Ter- 
tulius, who says:^ "It is not the great number of 
bishops who form the church, because the church 
can be contained in one person." 

St. Gregorius adds:^ " Who are those who de- 
fine the true church by the multitude ? They 
have the multitude, we have the faith; they have 
the gold and silver in abundance, but we have 
the true doctrine,'*^ It is evident, that the true 
church at that time was not composed of the mul- 
titude. And when anti-Christ shall come (accord- 
ing to the testimony of our Saviour,) who says 
in the Gospel of Luke, chap, xviii. 8, *' When 
the Son of man cometh shall he find faith ?" — 
That convinces me, that when the impious here- 
sy of anti-Christ shall reign in the church, there 
will be no other proof of Christianity, no other 
refuge for the christian, than the Bible, which is 

^Theod. unde Supra. 

^Tertul. Lib de pcenit, chap. x. 

^Gregor. Oratio 25, Cont. Arianum. 



1 20 APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. 

the Word of God. That the multitude will fol- 
low error, and the true church will be limited to 
a small flock, who will have no other arms against 
the strategems and persecutions of anti-Christ, 
than the arms of God. 



THE APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION AS A 
PROOF OF THE INFALLIBILITY. OF 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

I must confess, that at the time, with all these 
evidences before me, with all these proofs of anti- 
scriptural practices, and heathenish worship before 
my eyes, I could not divest myself of a strong 
attachment to the church of Rome; having the 
strong impression of the apostolical succession, I 
thought she must be infallible. But how differ- 
ent were my feelings after a strict examination of 
my Bible, and the fathers on that important point. 

Admitting that the church of Rome has really 
an apostolical succession, would that give her a 
right to the assumption of infallible power ? For 
if any church in the world has a right to boast of 
an apostolical succession it is the church of Jerusa- 
lem. We read in the Psalms.^ " As the mountains 



Ts. 125, V. 2. 



APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. 121 

are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round 
about his people from henceforth, even forever." 
These were the promises upon which the priests 
in the Old Testament relied, and these very pro- 
mises gave rise to prejudices, so that every mo- 
ment they exclaimed: "the people of the Lord; 
the tempel of the Lord are we, &;c." But the 
Lord answered them :^ " Trust ye not in lying 
words, saying : the temple of the Lord, the tem- 
ple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we. 
For if you truly amend your ways and your 
doings ; if you truly execute judgment between 
a man and his neighbor; if ye oppress not 
the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and 
shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk 
after other gods to your hurt ; then will I cause 
you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave 
to your fathers, for ever and ever. Behold ye 
trust in lying words that cannot profit, &c." 
Though Jerusalem has been favored by God as a 
tabernacle of his own dwelling, the judgment of 
the Lord has been notwithstanding executed, be- 
cause of their abominations." ^ 

^Jeremiah, chap. 7, v. 4 — 15. 
^Jerem. chap. 5 and 6. 
11 



122 APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. 

If Zio7i has ceased to be the house of God ; if 
Jerusalem, the city of the Lord has been reduced 
to a solitude, the ahars laid waste and made deso- 
late ; what has the church of Rome to boast of 
being the cradle of martyrs, and the nurse of con- 
fessors and saints? She ought rather to tremble 
at the abominations with which she is filled, the 
errors with which she is infected, the scandles 
which their Popes have been to the universe ; is 
it not a wonder, that long ere this it has not been 
reduced to the dust like Jerusalem, and become a 
den of thieves and robbers, a horrible Babylon, a 
terrible solitude ? Is it not a wonder that Rome, 
which has been founded with fratricide ;^ popu- 
lated by rapine f whose morals are filthy like her 
streets, and in her avarice selling the cross of 
Christ, wherever she finds a purchaser,^ yet exists 
upon the surface of the earth ? 

^Hist. of Borne, where Romulus killed his brother 
Remus alter having founded the city of the world, in 
order to be the sole governor of it. 

'•^Tbid. The stratagem of the Romans, of making a 
feast, and inviting the >S«ime women, and then shutting 
the gates of the city against their husbands and lovers, 
in order to populate the city. 

'•'l^he relic of the cross is very dear, that is the rea- 
son that it is not to be found in the poor man's house 
as the rags and bones of the saints are. 



APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION* 123 

I remember when I resided in Florence, the 
capitol of Tuscany, where I had nothing to fear 
from the holy inquisition, I had a friendly contro- 
versy with an enlightened priest of the church of 
Rome; I showed him the anti-evangelical doc- 
trines and practices of the church, the immorality 
of the Cardinals and Popes, of whom we must 
blush, when we think that such men pretend to 
bind and to loose our conscience. He said : "all 
that you say is truth, and as a reply to your ar- 
guments, I will read a novel of Bocaccio." The 
contents of the novel are as follows : 

A christian had a bosom friend, who was a Jew, 
the latter was a just and an upright man ; but the 
christian constantly urged his friend to become a 
christian, the Jew always refused to consent, until 
one day, he said: "I will go to Rome and see 
how your Cardinals and Pope act and live ; if 
their life correspond with the doctrine they preach, 
I will become a christian." The christian instead 
of rejoicing lost all his hope, for he thought, if he 

fwent to Rome and saw all those corruptions, he 
never would become a christian, and persuaded 
him not to go so far, as he might have an oppor- 
tunity to do it at the place where he was : but all 
in vain, he undertook the jouiney, and in a short 



124 APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION. 

time the christian received a letter from his friend, 
that he had been already baptized. He could not 
imagine what it was that induced him to take that 
step, as he knew the integrity of his friend, and 
the strict morality of his sentiments, and was ac- 
quainted with the corruptions of the priests. As 
soon as his friend returned, he asked him the par- 
ticulars, who told him, saying: "I saw all the 
corruptions and abominations which ever an eye 
can see, and still your religion exists; it must be 
of God." Such are the arguments, which the 
Roman priests use, when the truth is forcibly pre- 
sented to them. Such are the grounds upon which 
they build the infallibility of their church. 

Let us now recur again to history and reason* 
If an apostolical succession can confer the privil- 
ege of infallibility upon a church, as the church 
of Rome maintains, the heretics of the third cen- 
tury had the same claim ; for Paul of Samosate, 
was the legitimate Bishop and Patriarch of Anti- 
och, he was succeeded by Demetrius, then fol* 
lowed Fabius, then Babilas ; Babilas was succeed- 
ed by Zebidus, then by Philetus, then Aselpiades, 
then Serapion, Serapion by Maximin, Theophile, 
then followed Cornelius, then Hero, then succeed- 
ed Ignatio, then Evodius, all of whom have been 



APOSTOLICAL DOCTRINES. 125 

legitimate successors of Peter. We may as well 
say, that in the fifth century [according to the 
reasonings and pretensions of Rome] all those 
who embraced the heresy of Nestorius, were un- 
der an infallible head, because their heresiarch 
was a legitimate successor of Sisinus ; successor 
of Attique ; of Arsace ; of St. Chrisostome ; of 
Nectarius ; of Gregory Nazianzeno ; and accord- 
ing to the chronicle of Nicefore, Nestorius was 
the thirty-sixth bishop of those who successively 
occupied the episcopal chair after the apostle St. 
Andrew. After such historical grounds, who can 
receive an apostolical succession as a proof of its 
infallibility ? 



THE APOSTOLICAL DOCTRINES AND 
NOT THE CHAIR, ARE REQUIRED AS 
A MARK OF A TRUE CHURCH. 

It is true that the fathers often used the argu- 
ments of an uninterrupted succession against 
heretics, but that of doctrine and not of persons. 
So did Tertulius in his time. So did Optat against 
the Donatists. St. Augustine against the Mani- 
cheans ; Pelagiens and the Ariens. Tertulius 
calls the apostolical succession : " a consangui- 



126 APOSTOLICAL DOCTRINES. 

nity or an affinity of doctrines,^^^ He uses the 
following language: "They [speakmg of the 
heretics] may show a succession of bishops from 
the beginning of Christianity, but cannot show a 
succession of doctrine in conformity with that of 
the apostles ; the succession of persons is no other 
proof, except that they are neither apostles nor 
having been taught by them, have no consan- 
guinity of doctrine with the apostles." 

St. Gregorius Nazianzenus, says :^ *' the suc- 
cession of piety and not of the chair is required, 
for those who make profession of the same faith 
are participating in the same chair; the succession 
of faith being the true succession ; the others, 
who glory in the chair without the truth, have 
only the appearance of a true succession." From 
these authorities we see that it requires a succes- 
sion of doctrine of which the church of Rome 
boasts but cannot show a proof. 

St. Hieronimus equally affirms :^ " the church 
is not in walls and splendid buildings, but in the 
true doctrine of Christ. The buildings having 
been for a space of twenty-five years in the pos- 

^Tertul. de praescript. haeret. 

^Gregorius Nazianzenus de laude Athanas. 

^Hieronimus Contra haeret. 



APOSTOLICAL DOCTRINES. 127 

session of heretics, but the true church has been 
where the true faith was." 

The same we can say, if we look to Germany, 
Holland and England, that whilst these beautiful 
edifices, which before the reformation were in the 
possession of the Roman church, the true church 
was among the Waldenses and the real followers 
of the cross. Let Rome cease to boast of the 
apostolical succession to prove her unlimited 
power of infallibility, for Nero also was the legi- 
timate successor of Augustus, and still was a ty- 
rant. Manasse succeeded Ezekiel, and was not- 
withstanding an ungodly king. And finally we 
will tell Rome, that the Arian bishops have equal- 
ly succeeded the faithful bishops ; tlie impious 
Nestorius was a legitimate successor of St. An- 
drew in the chair of Constantinople, as well as 
Pope Gregory the XVI. in the chair of St. Peter. 
As the dark night which succeeds the splendor of 
the day ; as sickness and death which succeeds 
health, so is the succession of persons without 
the truth of the gospel. 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 

In one of my preceding articles, I showed suf- 
ficiently the corruptions, the deceit, the heathen- 
ish adoration of the Virgin Mary, and the manner 
in which saints are manufactured; but having only 
given an historical account, I resume the subject 
in a separate section, to show the light I received 
after an attentive examination of the scriptures 
with regard to the invocation of saints. 

Having been taught to venerate and adore the 
saints, I felt the great importance of that subject, 
and it was not a matter of trifling or small mo- 
ment for my conscience whether it was true or 
false. The scriptures teach, that: '^God is a 
Spirit, and they that worship him must worship 
him in spirit and in truth." Consequently it was 
a practical question in which every man, lay-maa 
as well as priest must be interested. 

How am I to approach God with acceptance? 
How am I to present my prayers unto Him ? Is it 
through the Lord Jesus as the only and perfect 
Mediator, or through him and the saints with him 
in heaven? Through one mediator and advo-^ 
cate, or through mcmyl were naturally the 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 129 

thoughts which rose in my mind. If I would 
give my views on the subject with the light I 
have now, I would certainly treat it differently. 
But 1 will in the plainest and most concise man- 
ner, give the views I had at that time. Two 
points presented themselves to my mind. 

Ist. Whether the saints pray in heaven for 
man ; and 

2dly. Whether men should pray to God through 
the saints. On ik\% first point I could not decide, 
because I found nothing revealed in the scriptures 
to make it a matter of faith. 

It was the seconc? point ; whether it is the du- 
ty of making saints in heaven our mediators with 
God ? This it was my desire to verify. 

Before I enter upon the inquiry, I will see if 
the Roman Catholics offer really a regular and 
unequivocal worship to the saints, and if they 
adore them as mediators between God and man ; 
then examine if it is right or wrong. 

The following prayers are addressed to the 
Virgin Mary and to other saints. As the Roman 
Catholics are not much versed in the Bible, I 
will for their convenience give also the passages 
from scripture as a parallel to their prayers. 



12 



130 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 



The Church of Rome, 

'' Heart of Mary, il- 
lustrious throne of glo- 
ry. 

''Heart of Marj^ com- 
fort of the afflicted. 

" Heart of Mary, re- 
fujre of sinners. 

''Heart of Mary, hope 
of the aofonizinor. 

"Heart of Mary, seat 
of mercy. 

"Hail Mary, lady and 
mistress of the world, to 
whom all power has been 
given, both in heaven 
and earth." ^ 

"Come then, harden- 
ed and inveterate sinner, 
how great soever your 
crimes may be ! come 
& behold ! Mary stretch- 
es out her hand, opens 
her breast to receive you. 
Thouo;h invisible to the 
great concerns of your 
salvation, though unfor- 
tunately, proof against 
the most engaging in- 
vitations of the Holy 
Ghost ; fling yourself at 

^Litany of the heart of Mary. p. 206. 
^Ps. xxxiv. V. 4. 
^Ps. xlvi. V. 1. 
^Isaiah eh. xlv. v. 22. 



The Bible. 

"I sought the Lord, 
and he beared me, and 
delivered me from all 
my fears. "^ 



" God is our refuore 
and strength, a very pre- 
sent Help in trouble.^ 



"Look unto me, and 
be saved, all the ends of 
the earth; for I am God, 
and there is none else.'"* 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 



131 



The Church of Rome. 

the feet of this powerful 
advocate. Her throne, 
though so exalted, has 
nothing forbidding." 

"Hail Mary, queen of 
my life, my sweetness, 
and my love."^ 



The Bible. 



"O thou, whosoever 
thou art, who under- 
standest that thou dost 
rather fluctuate in the 
streams of this life, a- 
midst storms and tem- 
pests, than walk over 
the earth, turn not thine 
eyes away from the 
splendor of this star, 
if thou desirest not to 
be overwhelmed with 
storms. If the winds 
of temptations arise a- 
gainst thee ; if you run 
upon the rocks of tribu- 
lations, look to this star, 
call upon Mary. If you 
are cast upon the waves 
of pride, ambition, de- 
traction, and emulation, 
look to this star, call up- 
on Mary. If anger, or 
avarice, or the entice- 
ments of the flesh strike 
aofainst the vessel of the 



"To whom then will 
ye liken God ? or what 
likeness will ye compare 
unto him ? The work- 
man meiteth a graven 
image, and the goldsmith 
spreadeth it over with 
gold, and casteth silver 
chains. He that is so 
impoverished, that he 
hath no oblation, choos- 
eth a tree that will not 
rot; he seeketh unto him 
a cunning workman to 
prepare a graven image 
that shall not be moved. 
Have ye not known ? 
have ye not heard ? hath 
it not been told you from 
the beginning ? have ye 
not understood from the 
foundation of the earth ? 
It is he that sitteth upon 
the circle of the earth, 
and the inhabitants there- 
of are as grass-hoppers ; 



Litany of the heart of Mary. p. -293. 



132 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 



The Church of Rome, 

mind, look to Mary. If 
disturbed by the immen- 
sity of your crimes, con- 
founded by the pollution 
of your conscience, and 
terrified with the horrors 
of the judgment, you be- 
gin to be absorbed in the 
gulf of sorrow, in the 
abyss of despair, think 
of Mary."^ 

"O God, who hast 
crowned the blest king, 
Edward thy confessor 
with the diadem of glo- 
ry, grant that we may 
honor him in such a 
manner on earth, as to 
hereafter reign with him 
in heaven, through, &c.^ 

"And I reverence you, 
O, sacred Virgin Mary, 
the holy ark of the cov- 
enant, and together with 
all the thoughts of all 
the blessed spirits in hea- 
ven, do bless and praise 
you inlinitely for you 
are the great Mediatrix 



Tlie Bible. 

that stretched out the* 
heavens as a curtain, and 
spreadeth them out as a 
tent to dwell. That 
bringeth the princes to 
nothing; he maketh the 
judges of the earth as 
vanity,"^ &:c. 



<' Whatsoever ye shall 
ask in my name, that 
will I do, that the Father 
may be glorified in the 
Son."^ 



*'Thou shah not make 
unto thee any graven 
image or any likeness of 
any thing that is in hea- 
ven above, or that is in 
the earth beneath, or that 
is in the water, under the 
earth. Thou shalt not 
bow down thyself to 



^Breviary Roman, Autumn. Fest. Sept. lect. 5, Ser- 
mo vSt. Bernardi. 

^Missal. Rom. p. 672. 
^Isaiah xl. v. 18—23 
"^John eh. xiv. v. 13. 



ADORATION OF SAINTS, 



133 



The Church of Rome. 

between God and man, 
obtaining for sinners all 
they can ask and de- 
mand of the blessed 
Trinity. Hail Mary."' 

*'0 God, who didst 
teach blessed Hedwiors 
to fly from the pomps of 
the world, and with her 
whole heart to embrace 
the humility of the cross; 
grant by her merits and 
example, that we may 
also learn to tread under 
our feet, the fading plea- 
sures of this world, and 
to overcome all that 
standeth in the way of 
our salvation, by embra- 
cing the cross. "^ 

Hymn, 

"Hail star of the sea, 
sweet mother of God, 
and ever Virgin. The 
Messed gate of heaven 
receiving that salutation. 
From the mouth of Ga- 



The Bible, 

them, nor serve them," 

&;c.^ 



"Little children, keep 
yourselves from idols. 
Amen."* 

"They that make a 
graven image are all of 
them vanity; and their 
delectable things shall 
not profit," &c. 

"Shall I fall down to 
the stock of a tree?^^'' 



"This is the stone, 
which was set at nought 
of you builders, which 
is become the head of 
the corner. Neither is 
there salvation in any 
other ; for there is none 



'Sacred heart of Mary, p. 200. 
'^Missal. Rom. p. 677. 
^Exod. ch. XX. V. 4, 5. 
nEp. of Johnch. v. 21. 
^Isaiah xliv. v. 9 and 19. 



134 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 



The Church of JRome, 

briel ; establish us in 
peace ; change the name 
Eve ; loose the chains of 
the guilty ; bring light 
to the blind ; drive away 
our ills ; give all good 
things; show that you 
art a mother ; and let 
him receive through thee 
our prayers, who was 
born for us, and conde- 
scended to be your son." 
May the Lord conduct 
us to the kingdom of 
heaven by the prayers 
and merits of the bless- 
ed ever Virgin Mary, 
and of all the saints. — 
Amen."^ 

*'0 blessed mother, 
and immaculate Virgin, 
O glorious queen of the 
world, intercede for us 
with the Lord."^ 

"We fly beneath thy 
protection, O, holy mo- 
ther of God ; do not de- 
spise our supplications 
in necessity, but ever de- 
liver us from all dan- 



The Bible. 

other name under heav- 
en given among men, 
whereby we must be sa- 
ved."^ 

Every man is brutish 
in his knowledge ; every 
founder is confounded 
by the graven image ; 
for his molten image is 
falsehood, and there is 
no breath in them. They 
are vanity, and the work 
of errors ; in the time of 
their visitation they shall 
perish. "^ 



"This is a faithful 
saving, and worth v of 
of all acceptation, that 
Christ Jesus came into 
the world to save sin- 



ners. 



^Breviar. Rom. p. 137.. 
^Brev. Rom. Ibid. 
^Acts iv. v. 11, 12. 
"^Jerera. x. v. 14, 15. 
n Ep. of Timothy i. v. 15. 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 



135 



Tlie Church of Rome. 

gers, O, glorious, and 
blessed Vimn."^ 

"We pray thee, O, 
Lord, that the glorious 
intercession of the bles- 
sed, ever glorious Vir- 
gin Mary, may protect 
us, and conduct us to 
life eternal, through the 
Lord."^ 



"O God, who didst 
adorn the blessed bish- 
op Nicholas with innu- 
merable miracles, grant, 
we pray thee, that we 
may be delivered from 
the burnings of hell by 
his merits and prayers, 
through the Lord."^ 



The Bible. 



"This is good, and 
acceptable in the sight 
of God our Saviour, 
who will have all men 
to be saved, and to come 
unto the knowledge of 
the truth. For there is 
one God, and one Medi- 
ator between God and 
man, Christ Jesus."* 



"Let no man beguile 
you of your reward, in 
a voluntary humility, 
and worshipping of an- 
gels, intruding into those 
things which he hath 
not seen, vainly puffed 
up in his fleshly mind, 
and not holding the 
head."^ 

That to the Virgin Mary is ascribed power, ut- 
terly inconsistent with her condition as a crea- 
ture ; I shall give another specimen of the wri" 
tings of our present Pope Gregory XVL who 

^Officium parvum V. Mariae. 
^Ibid. 

^Breviar. Rom. Dec. 6, Fast, hiemalis. 
*Ibid. chap. ii. v. 3—6. 
^Ep. Coloss. chap. ii. v. 18. 



136 ADORATION OF SAINTS. 

closes his pastoral address in the following man- 
ner: " Now that all these events may come to 
pass happily and successfully, let us lift up our 
eyes, and our hands to the most holy Virgin 
Mary, who alone has destroyed all heresies, and 

is OUR GREATEST CONFIDENCE, EVEN THE WHOLE 

FOUNDATION OF OUR HOPE." These quotatious 
sufficiently prove, 

1st. That a religious worship of the most de- 
cided character is offered to the saints. 

2dly. That God is addressed through their 
merits. 

3dly. That to the Virgin are ascribed the pre- 
rogatives and titles of Deity. 

4thly. That saints are held to make satisfaction 
for sinners, and are therefore not only mediators 
of intercession, but also mediators of atonement. 

I examined further the scriptural grounds, upon 
which the church of Rome bases that worship, 
and those practices. Three reasons are adduced 
as proof: 

1st. The nature of christian charity. 

2dly, The scriptures. 

3dly. The practices of the primitive church. 

With regard to the excellency of christian love 
or charity, I perfectly agree with them, knowing 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 137 

full well, that it is the bond of perfectness, and 
that it will live for ever in the kingdom of glory ; 
or those who die in the faith of Jesus, feel a liv- 
ing charity for the church on earth ; but it has not 
been revealed unto us to what extent, or in what 
manner, much less that the saints in heaven pray 
for us. To call on them to exercise this love in 
our behalf as intercessors for God, is in opposi- 
tion to the whole tenor of scripture. I perfectly 
coincide with my beloved Roman Catholic breth- 
ren, that the church of heaven is filled with love 
towards the church yet militant. As the body of 
Christ shall not be seen in its glorified state, until 
all God's people shall be gathered together ; so it 
is reasonable to think, that this feeling of love to- 
wards those on earth, is found among the blessed 
above. But to establish it as an article of faith, 
v^ould be absurd, much more so to assert, that we 
are authorized to call on them to exercise this 
charity by praying for us, or in other words to 
ask them to intercede with God for us. Such a 
doctrine I could not receive, because the word of 
God declares, that none in heaven is to be invok- 
ed as an intercessor, save the Lord Jesus Christ* 
To call on the saints in glory, to pray for us, is 
not to invite them to a work of charity, but an 



138 ADORATION OF SAINTS. 

act of great presumption. For God has revealed 
this truth unto us, that we are to apply to Jesus 
our only Mediator, and not to the saints, to exer- 
cise their charity in this way. 

2dly. The passages of the scriptures which the 
church of Rome brings to support her doctrine of 
the invocation of saints, I carefully examined, and 
are as follows. In the gospel according to St. 
Luke we read:^ *' There is joy in the presence of 
the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." 
Consequently the angels know our state on earth, 
and therefore can pray for us. I firmly believe 
that they do not know every thing concerning 
man ; but how can they know when a sinner re- 
pents ? The parable from v/hich the above pas- 
sages are taken explains the matter. The man 
goes into the wilderness, seeks his lost sheep, 
finds it, carries it home, and tells his friends, say- 
ing: ''rejoice with me for I have found the 
sheep that was lost^^ Jesus comes to this wil- 
derness of sin, seeks and saves that which was 
lost, proclaims the triumphs of his grace to the 
angels who surround his throne, saying: "rejoice 
with me, &c*" How simple and how instructive 

^LQke, chap. 15, v. 10. 
^Luke, chap. 15, v. 5. 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 139 

this passage is, when left to its genuine meaning 
aad bearing, and how dangerous it is, when per- 
verted to support the error of the intercession of 
saints and angels. The simple fact is, that Jesus 
the good shepherd, informs the angels of the sin- 
ners conversion and therefore they know it. 

Another passage from Job' is the next quota- 
lion. The command of God to Job's three 
friends to seek an interest in his prayers and their 
obedience thereto. There is no doubt, that God 
commanded them to seek an interest in the prayers 
of Job, and he did plead for them, so did the peo- 
ple of God at Rome in Paul's time plead for him, 
according to his request.^ But he has not com- 
manded us to ask the prayers of the saints in 
heaven ; the first is a precept, the second is the 
invention of man. 

The difference is as great as heaven is above 
the earth. Job was not in heaven, but a child of 
God upon the earth, and Job's friends did not pay 
to him relio^ious horior but recommended them- 
selves to his prayers, as every christian's duty is 
to pray for his friends. 

'Job, chap. 43, v. 7—10. 
^Romans, chap. 15, v. 30. 



140 ADORATION OF SAINTS. 

Another text from Zacharia is taken as a sup- 
port.^ " O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not 
have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Ju- 
dea, with which thou hast been angry, this is now 
the seventieth year." These were the words of 
an angel, who prayed for Jerusalem and the cities 
of Judea. May that or any other angel not pray 
also now for us ?" I was very much surprised 
at such an interpretation, though my biblical 
knowledge was at that time not very extensive, 
still I could see the real meaning of that text ; the 
angel who uttered that prayer was not in heaven, 
but upon the earth with the prophet.^ Therefore 
it could not prove any thing for the intercession 
of saints or angels in heaven; another point 
which is evident from the original^ is that the 
angel was our Lord, the Mediator Jesus Christ. 
For the true translation would be: '^ the angel, 
the Lord,''^ and not the angel of the Lord. 

Another passage is quoted by the Romish divines 
from Exod. chap. 3, v. 5, where a voice was heard 
by Moses, at Horeb. " Loose thy shoes from off 
thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is 

^Zachar. chap. 1, v. 12. 
^Ibid. V. 9. 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. 141 

holy.*' This he did; thus it was with Joshua, 
who fell down upon his face at the appearance of 
the angel. Here I was somewhat embarrassed, 
but St. Thomas d' Aquinus gave me light on the 
subject, saying :^ " The angel, to wit Christ, who 
is called an angel, because sent by the Father into 
the world. This angel is the mediator Jesus 
Christ, because of no other can it be said, that he 
offers up to the Father after so glorious and ma- 
jestic a manner the incense, that is, the prayers of 
all the saints upon the golden altar." 

Again a passage from Revelation,^ where it 
reads : " The four beasts and four and twenty el- 
ders fell down before the lamb, having every one 
odours, w^hich are the prayers of the saints." As 
plausible as it appears, still the fathers interpret it 
in a more rational way than the present Roman 
divines. They consider it figuratively, referring 
either to the church on earthy or to the church in 
heaven^ if the former, the four beasts and the 
four and twenty elders represent the ministers 
and the people of Christ's church, the harps, their 
songs of praise or thanksgiving, and the odour or 

^Thom. d' Aquinus, Apoc. Sect. 2, caput 8. 
^Rev. chap. 5, v. 8. 



142 ADORATION OF SAINTS. 

incense their prayers, relates to the service of 
God's people on earth. But if taken in reference 
to the church of heaven, it can only prove one 
thing, and that is, that they pray even there. 
Now reason asks where does it appear that they 
offer our prayers, or even that they pray for us ? 
but any prayers that may be offered up are for 
themselves, or of a general nature. 

3dly. I examined the assertion of the church of 
Eome, that it luas the constant practice of the 
primitive church. I carefully read the fathers, 
and I defy any man under heaven to show me one 
of the fathers who lived in the first two centu- 
ries, who has even hinted at this doctrine in any 
shape or form, that is even acknowledged by the 
Roman Catholic advocates : " That to the Gentiles 
no occasion should be given to think that many 
gods were offered them, instead of the multitude 
of gods which they had forsaken." Even Origin, 
who lived in the third century makes no reference 
to the duty of praying to the saints. 

It is a remarkable fact, that the fathers brought 
forward the same arguments against the gods of 
the heathens, as the Protestants against the invo- 
cation of the canonized saints of the Pope of 
Rome, and ever maintained the truth, that we 



ADORATION OF SAINTS. " 143 

must come to God through Christ, the true and 
only Mediator with God. 

Having shown what the church of Home teach- 
es upon this topic, I will give the doctrines of the 
Bible as I understand them now. There is an 
infinite distance between God and man. " Your 
iniquities fsays the prophet Isaiah]^ have sepa- 
rated between you and your God^ These have 
caused the breach which the sinner could not by 
any exertion heal. Hence our sins expose us to 
the condemnation of God's law here, and eternal 
misery hereafter.^ God in his love and pity, pro- 
vided a way for the sinner to come to him, Avhich 
is thus plainly expressed by the Saviour: " I am 
the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh 
unto the father, but by me." ^ The barrier to our 
approach to God was sin, but this Jesus has re- 
moved by the sacrifice of him.self.^ And as God 
the Father was fully satisfied with the ransom 
which he paid for the sinner, so it is through Him 
alone the sinner must go to God. present his peti- 
tions through him, and expect an answer to prayer 

*Isaiah, chap. 59, v. 2. 
2Rom. chap. 3, v. 9. > 

^John, chap. 14, v. 6. 
^Heb. chap 9, v. 26. 



144 ADORATION OF SAINTS. 

in the same way. Hence the great stress laid 
upon the intercession of Christ in heaven,^ and 
the constant reference to him as our mediator and 
advocate with the Father. 

There are three features in his mediation, which 
give us boldness to approach in his name. 1st* It 
is single, that is, He exercises it alone, and none 
shares it with him. No man cometh unto the 
Father, but by me."^ There is one God and one 
Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, 
who gave himself a ransom for alL^ 2dly. This 
intercession is suitable to man's wants and con* 
ditions, for he is omnipotent, he is full of tender- 
ness and power. He feels our miseries and en- 
ters deeply into our condition."^ 3dly. His inter- 
cession is perfectly efficacious; he never can 
plead in vain. He is our advocate with the 
Father,^ and prevails with God. " Him thou 
hearest always.'* What more does the Father 
require than the mediation of his dear son ? And 
why should the sinner seek further than the aid 

^Romans, chap. 8, v. 34, and Heb* chap. 7, v. 27. 
^John, chap. 14, v. 1. 
sTimothy, chap. 2, v. 5 and 6. 
^Heb. chap. 4, v. 15. 
'^l Ep. of John 20. 



THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 145 

of the beloved ? Can the voice of many be re- 
quired here ? Surely no L 

If the church of Rome contends for the supre- 
macy of the Pope ; I will uphold the supremacy 
of the Lord Jesus Christ- 

If the church of Rome clings to the tradition 
of men ; I will receive nothing but the written 
word of God, as the rule of my faith. And if she 
teaches the intercession of saints, I will direct 
my heart and ray mind to the perfect Mediator of 
Christ. 



THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT 
OF THE CORDELIER. 

After this result of my inquiiies, my readers 
may easily imagine the perplexity of my mind. 
No friend in whose bosom I could pour the dis- 
tress of my troubled spirit; no prospect of any 
relief for the anguish of my heart, no refuge 
against the wrath to come, and if the true state of 
my feelings become known among the Catholic 
clergy, whither should I fly to avoid the fiendish 
tortures of the Inquisition ? The Bible, which 
should have been my consolation, only augment- 
ed my sorrows, and was as a worm constantly prey- 
13 



146 THREE MOI?iJTHS IN THE COISf?E:N'F. 

ing upon my heart ; for the more I read it, ih^ 
stronger became my convictions, that the churck 
of Rome had deserted from the doctrines and 
practices of the primitive church of Christ. In 
the midst of this perplexing state of mind, I saw 
also the impossibility of leaving the church. For 
in what church should I take refuge ? I had no 
chance in Rome. Should I leave Rome and join 
a Protestant heretic church? I hated even the 
idea, for my intention was not to become a Pro- 
testant, but a faithful believer in Christ. The me* 
dilations of Thomas A' Kempis were, next to 
the Bible my companion ; I also procured several 
Freneh works of the Jarnsenists, in order to in^ 
struct myself better in the truth of the gospel; 
these strengthened my determination not to leave 
the church, but labor for its reformation. Inspired 
with this idea^ I resolved to separate myself en- 
tirely from the world, and live a monastic life. I 
consulted with my friends, who represented to 
me all the difficulties of such a change. My 
habits, temperament and health were taken into 
consideration, I both acknowledged and felt the 
force of these objections, but believing as I did;^ 
that cloisters are the residences of holiness and 
science, and looking upon monks as perfect, ^nd 



I'HEEE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 147 

the only godly men in the church ; I entertained 
no doubt, that I should be able to overcome all 
these difficulties, by the superabundance of spiri- 
tual good I should receive. So I resolved to be* 
come a Capucin friar. My mother was greatly 
displeased with this change ; my sisters ridiculed 
me, they called me a crazy, lazy and ignorant 
friar, and did all in their power to prevent such a 
step. But I had been seeking that peace for my 
troubled conscience, which the world could not 
give me ; the confessional was not sufficient to 
bind up my broken heart ; the mediation of the 
Virgin Mary I considered only a trick of the 
priests to get money. I had no one to direct me 
to the fountain of life, to the mediation of the 
crucified Redeemer as the only refuge, I sought 
refuge in the cloister and entered not the convent 
of the Capucins, but the minor order of St, 
Franciscus, whose manner of living is not as 
austere as that of the other orders of St. Francis-* 
cus, and who are also men of learning. 

Towards the end of the year 1826, I entered 
the convent of the Minorites, the so-called Cor- 
deliers as a novice. The superior of the convent, 
treated me in a very gentlemanly manner, as a 
grown up person, and being in sacerdotal orders^ 



148 toREE MONTHS IK THE CONVENT. 

I had no communication with the other novices, I 
had more liberty being only placed under the di-* 
rection of the father professor of Theology, and 
saw them only in the choir. As a novice I had 
no intercourse with any of the fathers of the con* 
vent, without the permission of the father profes* 
sor. My cell was plain and neat, my bed much 
better than I had expected ; I was obliged for my 
health's sake to make a prominade twice a week 
wdth some of the fathers in the city or elsewhere^ 
as it pleased my conductor. Nearly every day 
after dinner I had permission to frequent society 
with the father students of Theology, who met in 
a large saloon m the garden, where a billiard table 
was standing, and other games were played, ac- 
cording to the fancy of the students, until the bell 
rang for vesper. I might have been happy with 
regard to my temporal welfare, but it was not that 
which I was seeking, it was something of a higher 
order. I was much surprised, that I never heard 
the monks speak on the subject of religion among 
themselves ; they backbited and censured each 
bther behind their backs, while they preserved the 
most friendly exterior wdien in each others pre- 
sence ; cabals and intrigues w^ere used in order to 
gain the good will of the superior, of fcbe pro- 



THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT, 149 

moted to some little office, and so zealous were 
they in this, that one would think they aspired to 
obtain a crown. I was horror-struck with one 
circumstance, which troubled me not a little ; we 
had an old father in the convent about 80 years of 
age, who occupied all the high offices in the or- 
der; in his old age he retired within the same 
convent, where he had once been a novice, and 
had made his vow, when he was 17 years old. 
I loved the old man very much, I never saw him 
pass the corridor without being engaged in mumb- 
ling some prayer, or without the rosary in his 
hand. Old and infirm as he was, he was ever the 
first in the choir and the last to leave it. He in- 
vited me often to his cell, and recounted his suf- 
ferings, when Napoleon suppressed the convents, 
and when he was imprisoned ; but what appeared 
to afflict him most was the almost unbounded lib- 
erty now enjoyed by the friars. They had been 
much more restricted at the time when he was a 
student. He repeated that history every time we 
met, and complained as often as we saw each 
other. 

One morning the news came that father P. had 
been found dead in his bed, this was sad intelli- 
gence for me, — he being the only one whose cell 



150 THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 

I could visit without permission. But the other 
fathers passed by this circumstance with light in- 
difference ; scarcely was the office which is said 
for the dead performed at church, when many of 
them ran away, while some did not even accom- 
pany the funeral to the grave. I saw evidently 
that these men came together without knowing 
each other, lived together without loving each 
other, and died without mourning over each other. 

All this 1 would have overlooked, because I 
thought my cell was my world, for as soon as I 
had once made the profession, I was no more un- 
der any direction, except under that of the prior 
of the convent, and as I aspired to no honors, nor 
promotion, I felt rather indifferent about the con- 
duct of others. Such were my calculations ; but 
two things troubled me, and contributed not a lit- 
tle towards increasing the miseries of my situ- 
ation. 

1st. As a novice I could read no book, without 
the permission of the superior; they gave me the 
constitution and Breviary of the Franciscan or- 
der ; the office of the Virgin Mary ; the lives of 
St. Franciscus, St. Bernardus, St. Antonius of 
Padua, and all such old, miserable, insipid pro- 
ductions, which were calculated to create disgust, 
instead of imparting a taste for reading. 



THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 151 

2dly. I once asked for a Bible, and llie father 
professor promised me one, but as he never at- 
tended to his promises, I renewed my request 
after a few days, when he refused, saying: ''thcU 
I must read such books which edify ^ and make 
<i good Franciscan friar, and not the Bible,, 
which would only satisfy my pride and carnal 
mind,'''' 

The folio wing Saturday evening I confessed .as 
nsual, when the father confessor put questions to 
jne quite different from those, which had refer- 
ence to my confession He asked me, " whether 
I believed that the Pope is the infallible head of 
the church? That the Pope and bishops in coun- 
cil are the only interpreters of the Bible?" and 
similar questions. I perceived immediately that 
I was surrounded by spies. I considered the 
father professor no more as my superior, but as 
my jailor, and my cell a jail, and from that hour, 
I studied how to geX out of the convent, but was 
ashamed on account of my own relations, who 
had warned me, and predicted to me all that had 
occurred. In such a state of mind, I neglected 
that little biblical knowledge, which I had a<i- 
quired; my mind was too much perplexed to 
diink of the one thing needful, and if I had 



152 THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 

remained in that den of corruption, my soul 
must certainly have perished forever. 

One day after dinner, I visited as usual, the 
company of the students, where I heard that one 
of the novices, a boy, aged sixteen years, was 
missing; it was a mystery how he could have es- 
caped, as the door of the noviciate was locked* 
The whole convent was searched, but nothing 
could be found of him. The following day a 
toga was seen hanging out of a window on the 
roof of the convent. The father director of the 
noviciate recognized it to be that of his novice,, 
and immediately ascended the garret with some 
friars, where they found the poor creature lying 
helpless. 

His melancholy history is as follows : Some 
of the monks opened the door of the noviciate 
with the general key, and persuaded the boy, 
through promises to go with them, when they 
conducted him up into the garret, where after 
having abused him in a manner too beastly to be 
told, they left him nearly lifeless. The boy re- 
mained there two nights and one day, without 
eating and drinking ; during which time, having 
so much recovered as to become sensible of his 
situation, he hung his toga out of a window forr 



THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 153 

the purpose, no doubt, of drawing the attention 
of some one to the place of his solitary confine- 
ment. The boy on being examined revealed the 
names of the individuals who had first induced 
him to leave the noviciate, and then after having 
satisfied their worse than beastly appetites, left 
him half dead in a lonely unfrequented garret, to 
perish as best he might. These monsters in hu- 
man shape were found to be three of the fathers, 
who on the same day, after having perpetrated 
this shocking crime, celebrated mass ! Yes read- 
er, three holy fathers of the Roman Catholic 
church in sight of the papal throne, not only out- 
raged humanity in a manner, to which the history 
of the most degraded savage, presents no parallel, 
but having scarcely wiped the stains of pollution 
from off their hands, you see them also standing 
in the sanctuary of the Most High, before the sa- 
cred altar, elevating the host, celebrating the aton- 
ing sacrifice in the mass, and in short performing 
the functions of pretended ministers of Christ. 
Is it not astonishing, that men, wallowing in the 
deepest mire of moral pollution, should presume 
to minister in the holy temple of God? Should 
they not rather be denied a place among human 
beings? But reader, degraded as they were, they 
14 



1 54 THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 

suffered no punishment. Atrocious as their 
crime appears to every lover of virtue, it fell far 
short of shocking the moral sensibility of papal 
Rome. She did not blush to own even these. — 
All the anxiety that was manifested upon the sub-~ 
ject, consisted in an effort to keep the transaction 
hid from public notice, and prevent scandal, and 
to do this it was only necessary to remove these 
Ivoly fathers to another convent, which was done. 
This was enough for me, I saw that, that per- 
fection which I sought was not to be found in 
convents, which are after all, but nests of abomi- 
nation and dens of corruption, so atrocious and 
shocking, that even hell itself would blush to own 
them. I immediately wrote a letter to one of my 
friends, and handed it to my jailor, the father pro-- 
fessor, for the purpose of having it sent off, who 
however, on finding it sealed, would open it, say- 
ing, "no novice can send, or receive any letter with- 
out the superior first inspecting it, for the novice 
ought to have no intercourse with the world." 
"The world ! (I exclaimed) the world would nev- 
er be guilty of that, which I saw in the space of 
these three months in your convent." I took the 
letter from his hand and opened it myself, show- 
ing him, that there was nothing more in it, than 



THREE MONTHS IN THE CONVENT. 155 

^tliat my friend should come the same evening 
with his carriage, and take me away, for I intend- 
ed to remain no lono;er in the convent. At this 
news, the friar changed immediately his com- 
manding voice into a placid and friendly one, 
without even chano^inor his countenance in the 
least, (Lavater might have learned something, if 
he had been present,) and said, "dear Don Luigi 
have you well considered the step, which you are 
takinof? enterinof ao^ain the wicked and trouble- 
some world.'' He called me no more Fra. Eu- 
gen, which was my monastic name, but Don 
Luigi, which was my civil name. He insisted 
that I should come into his cell and, continue to 
be his friend, endeavoring to dissuade me from 
my purpose by many monkish flatteries, worthy 
only of the devil, but not of one, who left all 
things for Christ's sake. I excused myself, not 
•being in a state of mind to visit, begging him to 
^end my letter to its destiny, and if he had no 
messenger, he should send it per city post, in or- 
der that my friend might receive it before dark. 
He promised compliance with my wishes, but 
deceived me. In a few hours the prior came, 
and knocked at my door; this was something 
new, for before, the father professor and prior en- 



156 THREE mo:nths in the convent. 

tered my room without any ceremony, as in their 
own rooms, in order to surprise me, now they 
used all the civilities of worldly men, and invited 
me into their cells. I went, and he received me 
in the most civil manner; our conversation was 
more philosophical than religious ; at th€ end, he 
wished me to consider, that even in the sacred 
walls of the convent there are some, who do not 
live up to the holy promises, which the vow he- 
fore the altar had enjoined, and exhorted me to 
live a religious life, even in the midst of the cor- 
ruptions of the world. He assured me that my 
conduct in the convent, had been exemplary, and 
expressed his sorrow for my leaving the order ; 
he added, that he would not allow my letter to 
be sent off, for he would have the pleasure, to 
have me conveyed to my home, for as he hired a 
carriage by the month, at the livery stable, it 
would be no extra expense to him. I accepted 
his kind offer, and on the same evening threw off 
the Franciscan toga, and deserted, that sink of 
iniquity. 



PERSECUTION. 

My mind was excited by this unexpected 
change in my life ; my heart indignantly inflamed 
against the corruptions which are committed un- 
der the religious garb of holiness and christian 
perfection ; the Bible was again my daily food, I 
felt that the word of God became a comfort to my 
soul, and a soothing to my broken spirit ; especi- 
ally did the Epistle to the Romans afford me light 
on the subject of self-righteousness; it taught me 
that it is through faith in the atoning blood of 
Christ, that we are saved, and have access to the 
throne of grace, where mercy is found. But how 
was I to practice it ? I was obliged daily, to per- 
form the anti-scriptural and idolatrous ceremonies. 
How to escape the abominations of popery? O ! 
if I had had a christian friend in these trials, who 
could have directed, and counselled me what to do, 
what a blessing would it have been for me ! Un- 
der such insurmountable difficulties, I resolved to 
remain in communion with the church of Rome, 
as though I were not in it, like the saints living in 



1 58 PERSECUTION. 

the world, as though they were out of it; use- 
ing' this w^orld as not abusing it.^ 

I resolved to profess the pure gospel of Christ 
in my heart, for God is a Spirit, and in spirit and 
in truth he must be adored, and He who is the 
great Searcher of all hearts, will consider the dis- 
position of my lieart, and not the outward per- 
formances of my body. Every day I made a new 
profession in the secrecy of my conscience, enter- 
ed a protest against the errors of the church of 
Rome ; and denounced all other anti-scriptural 
practices, as human inventions, of which I wish- 
ed to be no partaker. When I was obliged to 
kneel before the host, I raised my spirit towards 
heaven, and adored my Redeemer, who was slain 
once forever, for the sins of tlie world. My con-- 
science told me, that I should proclaim the gospel 
of Christ unto those around me; but another 
voice stronger than the first asked me : " will you 
die by the torments of the Inquisition ? If the peo- 
ple will be deceived, if they voluntarily harden 
their hearts against the truth of the gospel, what 
business is it of yours ? Is it possible that God 
will demand an account of me, for the salvation 
of a people, who wish to live in error, and perse- 

* 1 Cor. chap. vii. v. 31. 



PERSECUTION. 159 

cute, and even torture and murder the saints, and 
any one who announces to them the truth? Are 
there not many priests and learned men, who are 
equally persuaded of the errors, and superstitions 
of the church of Rome yet remain still in com- 
munion with her ? How is it with the bishops and 
clergy of France, who do not recognize the pri- 
macy of the Pope of Rome, neither believe in the 
infallibility of his decrees, still they do not separ- 
ate themselves from the church of Rome ? The 
Jansenists also, who have ever been the most 
learned of the Universitv of Sorbonne in France, 
did not separate themselves from the communion 
of the Roman church. Such were ray reasonings, 
and according to this principle I acted for the 
space of a year and a half; but now and then, 
when an opportunity presented itself, I preached 
the truth publicly/ communicated it in private to 
my friends, gave them Father Clement, the Pro- 
vincial Letters of Paschal, and other useful books 
to enlighten them, so that I became suspected of 
heresy, and was at onco surrounded by false, 
priestly friends, who were hired spies of the ec- 
clesiastical tribunal, and of course informed against 
me as a heretic. 



1 60 PERSECUTION. 

Oae afternoon, I received a letter from a friend, 

the cardinal del G io, (may the Lord prosper 

him !) who urged me to leave the city before mid- 
night. I understood the hint, and only those who 
have felt the tyranical yoke of priests, can enter 
into my feelings. I had no passport to leave the 
papal states, nor was I provided with money for 
a journey in a foreign country; and a few hours 
would seal my doom, and deprive me of my lib- 
erty forever. I had no alternative, either to re- 
main and become a victim of the gospel truth, in 
the grasp of the Inquisition, or to leave Rome, 
and with it ail that was dear to my heart, this side 
of the grave. 

The difficulty, how to leave the city without 
being observed at the gate, was the first which 
presented itself to my mind. The fear of being 
surrounded by secret spies, was another painful 
idea. Having however, no time to lose, I wrote 
a letter to my dear mother, informing her that I 
was about to undertake a journey to Naples. I 
however, did riot tell the truth, for I intended to 
go to Florence, for fear she might unwillingly be- 
tray me, or the priests might in a subtle manner, 
get it out of her, and the Inquisition might lay 
hold of me before I could have passed the fron- 



PERSECUTION. 161 

tier of the Papal Dominion. I dressed myself as 
if I intended to go to an evening party, and was 
going on a promenade out of the gate of the city, 
called, " St. John of Lateran," the ancient via 
apia, which leads to Mhana^ called by Cicero, 
Alba longum which road leads direct to Naples. 
After having walked a certain distance, I turned 
to the left and pursued my way among fields and 
gardens, until I came into the road which leads 
towards Tuscany. I walked during the whole 
night ; in the morning I rested in a common Inn 
on the roadside, where I took breakfast. Four 
piastres formed my only capital, nor had I any 
other clothing than what I had upon my body, 
but my anxiety how to pass the Papal frontier, 
and enter the other without a passport, was so 
great, that I entirely forgot my external circum- 
stances. 

After having rested about two hours in a place 
where I would have before considered it a disgrace 
to enter, I continued my journey, and at 3 o'clock 
reached Montejiascone ; I did not enter the town, 
for it lies upon a hill, but stopped at the hotel on 
the turnpike. I ordered a dinner, and providen- 
tially saw there a carriage belonging to an ac- 
quaintance of mine, who came from Bologna on 



162 PERSECUTION. 

his way to Rome. I opened my mind to him, 
knowing him to be a true liberal} TelHng him 
my circumstances ; I offered him my gold repeat- 
er as a security, if he would lend me fifty piastres, 
which he would not accept, being satisfied with 
my note. He appeared to be more afraid than 
myself, and told me to leave the turnpike, and 
thus pass the papal frontier, where no police is 
stationed, so that in case they should have an or- 
der to stop me, I might elude them. But I knew 
that I had nothing to fear, for the friend who had 
advised me of my danger, was sure that no step 
had as yet been taken to prevent my escape ; I 
was also certain that no living being knew the di- 
rection I had taken, for I deceived them by leav- 
ing the city by an opposite gate. The same night 
I passed the papal frontier, and entered the terri- 
tory of Tuscany. I cannot describe my feelings 
when I saw the yellow cockade upon the hat of 
the soldier, I breathed more freely, and my knees 
trembled as if they would have indicated that I 
should bow down in prayer and thanksgiving; I 
raised my heart to the God of mercies who pro- 

^ Liberals are all those who oppose the temporal, as 
well as spiritual tyranny of the Pope of Rom.e, 



PERSECUTION. 163 

tected and delivered me from the wicked hands of 
the Roman priests. 

The Ducal soldier asked me for my passport, 1 
told him : '' I have none." Then he invited me to 
appear before the officer, to whom I said : *' That 
ecclesiastical offences obliged me to leave Rome, 
and that I would relate the circumstances in Flor- 
ence to the chief director of the police." He 
smiled and said : "II Signore Abbate amava forse 
piu le Signorine che il suo Breviario." [The 
Abbe loved perhaps mora the ladies than his Bre- 
viary,] and gave me a temporary passport, in 
which he specified the towns and cities througli 
which I was to pass, and directed me to show it to 
the police to be signed, adding: "I rely upon you 
as a gentleman, that you will be careful in keeping 
the road and in observing my instruction, else you 
might bring both of us into great difficulties." 
After an assurance upon my honor I left him, and 
at the distance of about a mile from that place 
there is a village, where I remained over night. 

My present safety and timely deliverance from 
the vengeance of a merciless Inquisition, together 
with that pecuniary aid which a kind Providence 
had so unexpectedly sent me, directed my thoughts 
towards the Giver of all good, and caused my heart 



164 PERSECUTION. 

to overflow with gratitude for his unbounded love. 
The following Sunday was Pentecost. I asked 
permission to remain three days in Sienna^ which 
the police director cheerfully granted ; during that 
time I provided myself with some linen and other 
indispensable things for my comfort. The next 
week on Wednesday in the afternoon I arrived at 
Florence. At the gate when I gave up my tem- 
jporary passport, 1 heard one of the officers say : 
**Ecco il Signor Abbate." [Here is the Abbe.] 
This was a sufficient indication that they expect- 
ed me, and that my delay in Sienna had already 
created suspicion. 

The next day I presented myself to the police 
with the ticket I had received at the gate of the 
city. The director of the police called me into a 
private room and inquired into the cause of my 
leaving Rome without a passport. I showed him 

the letter from the cardinal del G io, and told 

him that I had committed no other crime than that 
I read the Bible, and took it as the only rule of 
faith.^ He in a very friendly manner told me : 
"If that is really the case you may remain here 
and read the Bible as much as you like ;" he gave 
me a ticket of permission for eight days ; after 
that for a fortnight ; thea for a month, and after 



PERSECUTION. 165 

that for three months, and so after a renewal of 
the permission every three months, I remained in 
Florence two years and six months. 

I passed my time in literary occupations and 
openly professed my sentiments ; I often had the 
pleasure of reading the Bible and conversing on 
the subject of vital religion with numerous priests 
and several young abbes, and discussed the anti- 
biblical doctrines of the church of Rome, and re- 
ceived not only a hearty approbation from many 
of them, but also a hearty Amen to the truth. I 
was invited twice to the Arch-bishop of Florence, 
who had a friendly interview with me, but as I 
performed no ecclesiastical duty, I cared little 
about his smiles or his frowns. 

I cannot exactly say how, but it was in a pro- 
vidential manner I made the acquaintance of the 
chaplain of the Swiss ambassador, the Rev* Mr» 
Colomb, who was the first Protestant minister 
with whom I had a religious interview, but as he 
was about leaving Florence, he gave me a letter 
of introduction to his successor the Rev. Mr. Re- 
cordon, who arrived shortly after his leaving the 
station. I enjoyed the company of the Rev. Mr. 
R. frequently, and was much edified with it, and 
I must say to him, [if this book should ever find 



166 PERSECUTION* 

its way into his hands,] that he was the fifsl 
christian who prayed with me, and showed me 
that a biblical knowledge without having experi^ 
enced the power of God unto salvation in the 
heart, is insufficient for salvation. 

One day 1 was called to the Prefect of the po-* 
lice, who informed me that they had received a 
letter from the Secretary of State, stating: "that 
the court of Rome reclaimed me as a Roman sub- 
ject, and that they were obliged to send me back 
into the papal State." I showed him how dan* 
gerous it would be to my personal liberty and 
even life, if I was to return to Rome, I made an 
appeal to the right of hospitality, which every na- 
tion observes, if the subject who is demanded 
has committed no crime. He told me: "I know 
all about the priest's doings, I would give you a 
piece of advice if you are willing to take it ; I 
will delay answering the letter of the Secretary of 
State ten days ; in the mean time you will take 
your passport and leave the city of Florence ; 
after which I will make my report, that you are 
no more here, so you will be released from all 
priestly vexations* For [added he] whatever an- 
swer w^e may give, Rome will insist on having 
her subject; the Secretary of State will be obliged 



PERSEGUTIONc 16t 

[^chough with reluctance] for the sake of etiquette 
and peace to surrender you to the papal power* 
But if you are not here, the diplomatical corres- 
pondence on that subject must of course cease.' ^ 
I advised with my Protestant friend, the Rev^ 
Mr. Kecordon, who was of the same opinion ; he 
gave nrie a letter of introduction to the brethren in 
Lausanne in Switzerland ; so I left Italy, the gar* 
den of the worlds the seat of arts and sciences, 
my sweet home forever; yes it is sweet, and even 
now after a long separation, distance, years, and 
vicissitudes, my affection is not diminished, 
but rather increased. Though I have spent 
thirteen years in various climates since I left 
Italy, yet no change of scene, no tropical sun, 
nor northern ice has yet and never will ex* 
tinguish my ardent love for my native land. The 
reader who never felt the anguish of being an 
exile from the land of his birth, will excuse me if 
I for a moment transmit myself to that land, 
where I first opened my eyes to salute the sun^ 
where it shines brighter than in any latitude in 
this hemisphere; I seem to feel it even now; it 
pours its genial rays upon my head, and from the 
head they descend into my heart and extend 
through all my veins, and when my eyes shall be 



168 SWITZERLAND. 

dim in death, my tongue paralized and speech- 
less, I shall not cease to love thee, Ilaly.y 



SWITZERLAND. 

I arrived in Switzerland tow^ards the middle of 
the year 1829, where I was received very kindly, 
and with much christian affection by the Protes- 
tants of that country. It is necessary that I give 
a short sketch of the religious state of Switzer- 
land, and of my personal progress in vital religion 
while in that country. 

With regard to my temporal affairs, I took gre^t 
care so as not to require assistance from the Pro- 
testants, in order that none should have reason to 
think that my leaving Rome had been induced by 
^sinister motives ; I lectured in the College of Lau- 
sanne on the Oriental languages, preparing the 
students who were in the last year of the philoso- 
phical faculty for the preparatory examination of 
the Theological faculty, and thus procured an 
honorable subsistence, even without using my 
own pecuniary resources. 

The religious state of the Helvetic church was 
at that period highly interesting ; the spirit of 



SV^^ITZERLAND. 169 

God worked wonderfully upon the hearts of men ; 
•some of the ministers of the established church 
had been awakened from their spiritual lethargy, 
and preached not only the living gospel of Christ, 
but preached also against socinianism, which was 
the leading doctrine of the established church; 
many men and women had been brought to a 
knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and unit- 
ed in prayer and supplications for the outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit with those faithful ministers. 
These the ministerium turned out from their com- 
munion, persecuting th^ faithful ministers with 
exile, and lay-members with imprisonment and 
pecuniary punishments. But in spite of all oppo- 
sition, that little persecuted flock daily augment- 
ed, not only in number, but also in zeal and god- 
liness. In the mean time the French revolution of 
the so-called three glorious days of July, 1830, 
had taken place; the spirit of freedom inflamed 
the noble hearts of the inhabitants of the Canton 
de Vaud, who, uniting like one man, dissolving 
the House of Assembly, elected delegates to 
frame a new constitution, which, as it made ample 
provision for the enjoyment of religious liberty, 
was adopted by an overwhelming majority. Now 
that little flock worshipped their God according 
15 



170 switzeri.a:nd. 

to the dictates of their own consciences^ without 
being molested by the ministerium of the estab- 
lished church. In the Canton of Geneva, the 
spirit of vital Christianity spread also w^ith the 
rapidity of lightning, but the spirit of aristocracy 
among the worldly, and socinianism among the 
clergy, opposed it with all their might ; they ex- 
pelled three of the most learned and respectable 
ministers from their communion ; then the gaunt- 
let was thrown down ; the christians took it up, 
and continued to light the good battle of Christ.- 
They formed themselves into a church, establish- 
ed a seminary, and at this day if not the majority 
in the Canton of Geneva, they can at least boast 
of a number of flourishing congregations in the 
different Cantons. 

Roman Catholics after having thrown off the 
yoke of papal superstition, are sometimes deterred 
from an immediate union with Protestants, and 
that principally on account of that systematic or- 
der and strict union to which they were accustom- 
ed in the church of Eome. The circumstance at 
least perplexed me ; I was at a loss what to do, 
whether 1 should unite with the established church 
or with the few persecuted christians. However, 
after a rigid examination of the doctrines of both 



SWITZERLAND. 171 

parties, I resolved to unite my destiny with the 
few despised Gailileans, and share with them per- 
secution for Christ's sake. I should have been 
very sorry to have exchanged the errors of the 
Roman church for the socinian heresy. So I re- 
mained two years in La^usanne, and eight months 
in Geneva, where I not only acquainted myself 
more fully with the doctrines of the gospel, but 
also learned how to live as a christian ; how to 
pray for the conversion of the church of Rome ; 
how to love my persecutors as well as my friends. 
Entertaining now an ardent desire to sound the 
same clarion of grace, mercy and peace, which 
had saluted my ears, and called me from the sable 
gloom of Roman idolatry to the clear light of gos- 
pel truth, also to others ; the brethren advised me 
to make a public profession of my faith, to show 
that I was not ashamed of that gospel which is 
the power of God unto salvation to every one ^hat 
believeth. This I did in Geneva before the whole 
consistory and a large assemblage of people ; in 
proof of which I annex my certificate from the 
consistory of the Canton of Geneva, declaring my 
reception as a member of the Helvetic confession, 
and my admission to all the privileges of that 
church. 



Its FOUNDATION OF iHBJ 

Nous Sousigne Secretaire du Consistoire d^ 
I'Eglise Chretienne Reformee de Geneve certi- 
lions, que Monsieur Louis Giustiniani a Solem- 
nellement declare, qu'apies avoir pris connais- 
sance de la doctrine et du culte de I'Eglise Chre- 
tienne Reformee, choisissait liberement cette Eg- 
lise pour la sienne, et qu'il voulait vivre et mourir 
dans sa communion. En consequence le Consis-* 
toire I'a adrais, selon les formes voulues par le 
reglement au nombre des fideles de notre com- 
munion pour participer avec nous a la Ste. Gene* 

Fait a Geneve le premier Juillet mil huit cent 
trente un. 

Le secretaire du Vener. Consist. 

[L. S.] BOURDILLON. 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH 
OF ROME. 

I cannot conclude without giving some histori- 
cal facts of the foundation of the church of Rome, 
in order that the Roman Catholics may see upon 
what basis their church is built and upon what 
ground their soul's salvation rests. Our Saviour 
calls the man who has built his house upon a rock 
tvise. For he says : " The rain descended and 



CHURCH OF ROME. 173 

the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat 
upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded 
upon a rock/ The apostle Paul speaking to the 
Corinthians of that rock, which must be the only- 
foundation of the christian, says : " That rock is 
Christ." ^ 

If I read the history of the inquisition and com- 
pare it with that of the reformation, I cannot be- 
liev,e that the church of Rome is built upon the 
rock which is Christ. I will not speak of the 
tens and hundreds of thousands who have perished 
at the stake, neither of the slaughtered Huguenots 
in France, nor of the noble army of martyrs in 
Germany, neither of the strewed ashes of the 
many Auto da Fe^ of which the church of Eome 
is guilty, and with which she defiled her garments 
as a testimony of her crimes. But I will only- 
state, that if the church was founded upon Christ 
the rock, she could have withstood the flood of 
the reformation, resisted the heavenly rain of gos- 
pel truth without injury, and remained unshaken 
like a rock amidst the agitations and civil convul- 
sions of the sixteenth century. Her proud vessel 
of Catholicism and infallibility could never have 

^Matt. chap. 7, V. 24. 

^1 Ep. to Cor. chap. 10, v. 4. 



174 FOUNDATION OF THE 

been wrecked by the adverse wind of Lii therms 
protestations. 

But having promised to give historical proofs 
of her foundation, I w411 at once proceed. There 
are: 1st. Ambition, 2nd. Usurpation. 3rd. 
Avarice^ and 4th. Moral corruption. 

To prove the ambition of the church of Rome, 
the decree of Gregory VII. in a council assembled 
in Rome,^ the so-called: " Dictatura Pontijicis^^ 
will be sufficient; in which he says : *' That the 
pope has the power to depose kings and emper- 
ors, and absolve subjects from their fidelity and 
obedience due to their sovereign."^ 

To carry out this principle, the same Gregory 
VII. dethroned emperor Henry IV. and Bo- 
leslaus II. King of Poland. 

To be faithful to that ambitious dictatura, pope 
Zacharias deposed Chidrique, King of France, 
and absolved the French from their allegiance to 
their legitimate sovereign, and placed Pepin upon 
the throne in his stead. 

Upon the same ground Boniface VIII. deposed 
Philip le Bell,^ and hurled the thunders of ex- 

lAnno 1076. 

^Greg. Septimuf , lib. ii. Ep. 30, 

^Anno 1302. 



CHURCH OF ROME. 175 

communication against him, declaring: ''That it 
is necessary foV the salvation of all men to be sub- 
ject to the Pope." 

Pope Innocent III. dethroned the Emperor 
0th on IV. 

Pope Innocent IV. deposed Emperor Fred- 
Tic II., and pope Julius 11. took the kingdom of 
Navarre from its legitimate sovereign -and gave it 
to Spain. 

That such an ambition animated all the popes, 
is abundantly evident from the fact, that in all 
rges it has b^en displayed with the greatest arro- 
gance. We find that Innocent III., who dethron- 
ed the Emperor Othon, did the same to king 
John of England, and declared him incapable of 
governing, and absolved the English subjects 
from their oath of allegiance to their legitimate 
prince, and gave the kingdom to Philip Auguste, 
king of France. 

Pope Paul III. excommunicated Henry VIII., 
and Pius^V. the queen Elizabeth of England.^ 

None can deny that the Dictatura Pontificis of 
Gregory VII. had its desired effect, and the above 
facts show, that his successors have been faithful 
to his principles, though contrary to the will of 

'Anno 1534. 



176 FOUNDATION J &C. 

the Lord, who expressly commands : " To give 
to Caesar what belongs to Csesar, and to God what 
belongs to God." The Apostle Paul in his Epis- 
tle to the Romans/ says, " Let every soul be 
subject unto the higher powers, for there is no 
power but of God, the powers that be ordained 
of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the 
power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they 
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." 
The Apostle Paul cannot speak of popes, for in 
his time there were none, and he never declared 
himself to be one. 

The ambitious power which the popes assume^ 
is not only contrary to scripture, but also to the 
practice of the primitive church, until the year of 
our Lord 1076, when the ambitious Gregory VH. 
established his Dictatura. The Emperors had a 
right to choose, and to depose the bishops, patri- 
archs and popes. The following historical facts 
will plainly show it. The Emperor Othon de- 
posed Pope John XII. for several crimes, but es- 
pecially for debauchery. The Emperor, Henry 
III. deposed in a short period three popes, viz. 
Benedict IX., Sylvester III. and Gregory VI. not 
only on account of their arrogance in assuming 

^Ep. Rom. xiii. 1, 2. 



USURPATION OF ROME. 177 

an ecclesiastical power, belonging to the civil au- 
thorities, but also on account of their avarice. 



USURPATION IS ANOTHER FOUNDA- 
TION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 
CHURCH. 

That the church of Rome has usurped a pow- 
er over the other bishops, I have sufficiently pro- 
ved in a preceding chapter on Infallibility. That 
these pretentions are neither founded upon the 
word of God, nor upon the practice of the prim- 
itive church, has been clearly shown, for the sin- 
gle fact, that neither Peter, nor any other apostle 
did ever exercise such a jurisdiction over their 
brother apostles, is sufficient. That the apostle 
did not preside at the council of Jerusalem, but St. 
James the bishop of Jerusalem, is another proof. 

According to the doctrines of the church of 
Rome, the universal bishop or pope has a right 
to preside over all the councils, or to appoint an- 
other bishop in his place. Can any Roman 
Catholic show, that Peter ever presided at, or ap- 
pointed any other apostle to preside in his place 
at any council ? Certainly not. The horror 
16 



178 USURPATION OF ROME. 

against any one assuming supremacy was so great, 
that when John the Patriarch of Constantinople, 
desired to assume the title of Universal Bishop, 
supported by the Emperor Maurice,* the whole 
christian w^orld was so shocked at such an inno- 
vation, that they calltd it a doctrine of hell; and 
pope Gregory the great, w^as so animated with a 
holy zeal for the glory of God, that he opposed 
it with great vigor, and denounced it as a temeri- 
ty never before heard of. He wrote to Athana- 
sius, Patriarch of Antioch, in the following terms, 
"May it please God not to permit, that the spir- 
it of Christianity should be so infected with the 
opinion, that there exists a bishop, who can be 
called Universal.'^ 

To the Emperor Maurice he declared, ''That 
any bishop, who assumes the title of universal is 
the forerunner of anti-Christ."^ And to John, 
the bishop of Constantinople himself, he wrote 
in beseeching terms, and exhorted him not to con- 
sent to that spirit of pride, folly and error ; he 
represented it as a temptation of the devil, against 
which he warned him. These were the last dy- 
ing words of the truth in the Church of Rome. 

^Anno 600. 

^Greg. Magn. Lib. vi. Ep. x. 



USURPATION OF ROME, i79 

Mas ! it happened in that dark and unfortunate 
period, when the Emperor Maurice had been as- 
sasinated by Phocus, who usurped the empire, 
and who gave, in order to fortify himself in his 
tyranny, the title of Universal Bishop to Boni- 
face III. In that way the Popes obtained the 
supremacy, and gradually usurped the authority 
over the other bishops. To execute this scheme, 
they addressed to Pope Theodore,^ letters with 
the superscription : '^ Holy Father of fdihers, sov- 
ereign Pontiff of bishops."^ 

The churches of Dacia, and Illiria strongly 
opposed that monstrous usurpation, which they 
considered both blasphemy and apostacy. France 
as w^ell as Spain and England, protested against 
it, and it was not till a long time after this event, 
that they submitted to the yoke of the so-called 
universal bishop of Rome. 

Such is the short history of the usurpation of 
the title of Universal bishop. Such is the his- 
tory of the birth and progress of papal pretentions. 
Such is the foundation upon which the infallible 
power of the Pope, and the hope of Roman Cath- 
olics' salvation rest. 

^Anno 642. 

^Sieoebert Hist. Anno 645. 



180 USURPATION OF ROME. 

The usurpation of authority over men, is not 
the only crime of which the church of Eome is 
guilty, but their popes have tried also to rob God 
of his glory, and make themselves equal with 
God. If they would only limit their ambition to 
rule over the bishops, it would be impiety enough, 
but they extend even their ungodly principles so 
far as to officiate as the Vicars of Christ, the 
Old and New Testaments, and usurp the right of 
being the sole interpreters of the living word of 
God.* Is it a wonder that Luther resisted the am- 
bition of Leo X.? Is it a wonder that pope Leo 
condemned Luther? Is it surprising that we read 
the abominable Bull, full of curses against the Pro- 
testants, called, " Exurge Domine ?"^ 

Will Roman Catholics deny, that the Pope 
styles himself "God on earth?" Let them go 
to Rome, they will read on the gate of the city : 
^' Paulus IIL Pontifex Opt. Maxim, in terris 
Leus,^^ [Paul III. High priest, the best, the 
greatest, and God on earth.] Without going to 
Rome we find papal arrogance in every decree, 
which comes from the Vatican. The reader will 
kindly examine the conclusion of the ordination 

^Bellarmine Lib. ad versus Barkl. chap. 3L 
^Concil Lateran. V. Bulla Exurcre Domine. 



USURPATION OF ROME. 181 

letter, which I have prefixed at the beginning of 
this volume, and he will find as follows. Page 7, 
line 11. 

" Datur Romee ex aedibus nostris hac die pri- 
mam measis Februarii anno 1827, Jurisdict XIV. 
Pontificatus S. S. in Christo Patris, et D. n. D. 
Leonis, Divina Providentia Papo3 XII. anno ejus 
IV. &c. &c." 

" Given in Rome from our Palace, the first of 
February 1817, the XIV. jurisdiction of ^7ie most 
holy Pontiff and Father in Christ, and Lord 
our God, the Pope Leo XII. through the Divine 
Providence, the IV year of his reign," &c. 

Pope Martin V. wrote in the despatches with 
which he furnished his ambassador to Constanti- 
nople : " Sanctissimus, et Beatissirnus, qui habet 
coeleste arbitrium, qui est Dominus in terris, suc- 
cessor Petri, Christus Domini, Dominus Universi, 
Regum Pater, orbis Lumen," &c. In plain En- 
glish it reads simply thus: " The most Holy and 
most happy, who is the arbiter of heaven, and 
the Lord of the earth, the successor of St, Pe- 
ter, the anointed of the Lord, the Master of the 
universe, the father of kings, the light of the 
world,''^ 8fc, What will the Emperor of China 
say, who pretends to be the Lord of the Sun, 



182 USURPATION OF ROME. 

when the British officers tell him that the pope 
is the arbiter of heaven, and the master of the 
universe? What must the grand Sultan think, 
who declares himself emperor of the moon and 
stars, when he hears that the pope is not only 
the arbiter of heaven, but also the light of the 
world ? How must it tickle the emperor of Rus- 
sia, and the fair queen of England, when they 
are told that the Pope calls himself, ''- the father 
of kings ?'^ Is it not painful to hear in the light 
of the nineteenth century, such absurd doctrines 
as these, and even more painful to see people 
with minds so totally shrouded in ignorance, as 
to be capable of believing such abominable dog- 
mas ? 

To call a man, *' God on earth, Vicar of 
Christ, most Holy Father, Arbiter of heaven, 
and Lord of the Universe,''^ is this not virtually 
making him equal with God Almighty ? Is it 
not giving God a competitor? To call the Pope 
" the anointed of the Lord, the father of kings, 
and the light of the world,^^ is it not blasphe^ 
mous ? can such titles be applied to any other, 
except to Christ himself, without the profanation 
of the word of God, or without committing sac- 
rilege against his most holy Son ? Such is the 



USURPATION OF ROME. 183 

foundation upon which the infallible authority of 
the self-styled universal bishop of Rome is based. 
I ask, is it not founded upon the sand, of which 
our Saviour speaks in his gospel? I repeat it, to 
call the Pope, " God on earth^^' is blasphemy so 
monstrous, that even Satan himself, cunning as 
he is, could not invent a greater profanation of the 
name of God, or assume greater pretentions, or 
manifest a more infernal spirit, or teach a more 
obnoxious and criminal doctrine than this. 



AVARICE, THE CORNER STONE OF 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

That avarice is another foundation of the church 
of Rome, and the corner stone of the whole po- 
pish edifice, is not difficult to prove. It was Bon- 
iface VIII. who begun the traffic of indulgences 
and forgivness of sins. It was he, who declared 
that his bulls had the power of law, and were re- 
ceived in Purgatory in favor of souls. To amass 
greater treasures,- the Pope sells dispensations of 
degrees [forbidden by the law of God,] and sanc- 
tions marriage even among the nearest relations. 
The bulls of bishops, arch-bishops, and cardinal 



184 USURPATION OF ROME. 

hats are dearly sold. Is it surprising, that Sixtus 
IV usually said, " as long as we have a pen and 
ink to write, money will not fail. ^^ 

Let us only open the volumes of the history of 
papal Rome, and we will find that at the time, 
when England was yet under her yoke, the 
preaching of crusades against the infidels, and 
the promises of the remission of all sins, was the 
order of the day, the draining of England's money 
was carried on as voraciously as a leech, drawing 
blood from the veins ; such was the constant 
practice of the popes. Justly therefore, did Pope 
Boniface call England, **Az5 inexhaustable treas^ 
uryy 

Let us look to Germany, where Tetzel peddled 
Indulgences by order of the Pope Leo X. The 
avarice of the Roman Pontiffs reached such a 
height, that the princes in Germany could no 
longer endure, and the monarchs no longer coun- 
tenance it. It was not Luther who caused the 
protestation agajnst the corruptions of the church 
of Rome, it was the avarice of Leo X. which 
provoked it, and accelerated the glorious Reform- 
ation. With all these historical facts before him, 
will an enlightened Roman Catholic buy indul- 
gences ? Will he continue to shut his eyes 



MORAL COHRUPTION. 185 

against the gospel truth? Will he iiiake the 
avarice of the court of Rome the foundation of 
his soul's salvation ? *' O, how are the mighty 
fallen, and the weapons of w^ar perished."^ 



MORAL CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH 
OF ROME. 

What can be expected of a church, which is 
founded upon ambition, usurpation and avarice ? 
Is it not certain, that she will even fall deeper 
into the" abyss of error, and abandon herself to all 
manner of corruption? Such is the actual state 
of the church of Rome. 

Let us examine the lives of the popes, who 
governed that church from the moment she be- 
gan to degenerate from her ancient purity, and we 
shall find events, which scarcely have a parallel 
in the history of heathen Rome, and which must 
fill every moral mind with disgust and horror. 

John XL governed the church of Rome to- 
wards the tenth century,^ and was the natural son 
of pope Sergius. His debauched life correspond- 

^Samuel chap. i. v. 27. 

^Baronius vita Pontificis ad annum 931. 



186 MORAL CORRUPTION. 

ed with his illeoritimate orio;in. Baronius calls 
him, " a monster of iniqiiily,^^ 

John XII. who succeeded that monster, was 
not more than eighteen years of age when he oc- 
cupied his place, and was in no respect better 
than his predecessor, and even Baronius^ speaks 
of him with execration and horror. As my ob- 
ject is however, not to offer at present, any ex- 
tensive work on Popery, I can only refer my 
readers to those authors who have written the 
lives of the Popes, as Lidtprand, Siegbert, Pla- 
iina, Onuphre and Baronms. The latter char- 
acterizes John XII. as a gambler, whore-monger, 
swearer. Sabbath-breaker, blood-thirsty, and a 
man capable of all iniquities. That great histor- 
ian assures us that his death was in conformity 
with his life; that he died in the midst of de- 
bauchery and violent agitations of the devil. It 
is really presumptuous to attempt to prove, that 
such men were chosen by the Holy Spirit, as in- 
fallibla heads of his blood-bought church. 

A certain Boniface poisoned two others, in or- 
der to become their successor; and Benedict IX, 
was not more than ten years old, when he was 
raised to the seat of Peter, by the bloody faction 

'Baronius vita pontiff ann. 955. 



MORAL CORRUPTION. 187 

of his father, who [as Baronius says,^ was a 
monster sitting upon the chair of St. Peter. — 
There were periods, when we had three popes 
at the same time, and each excommunicating the 
others. Some [as we learn from history] have 
been murderers, adulterers, simoniacs, perjurers, 
and guilty of every crime imaginable. To say, 
that these were chosen by the Holy Ghost to be 
the infallible heads of his true church, is in reality 
saying, that Jesus Christ had chosen the infernal 
princes to announce his gospel, and appointed his 
santanic majesty as his successor to dispense the 
truth of his church. 

Who can persuade himself that God had chosen 
pope Hildebrand, and such like profligates, who 
had been sold to iniquity, as organs of the Holy 
Spirit and Vicars of Christ? But why need I 
speak of a period before the reformation ? Go, 
reader, go to Eome noiv, enter within the so-called 
metropolis of the Catholic church, and you will 
find every evening, [as soon as it is dark] carri- 
ages of cardinals and bishops before different 
houses, not indeed before palaces, where the no- 
ble lady resides, but before the humble dwelling 
of the citizens, where their eminences and my 
lord bishops spend the evening with their respec- 



188 MORAL CORRUPTION. 

tive ladies, at the card tables or other games of 
Italian lovers ; even the humble confessor has his 
house, vi^here he spends his evenings with his fair 
penitent at some game. You will see at ten 
o'clock, when the husband arrives, his eminence 
or my lord bishop preparing to leave, and accom- 
panied by the husband with a lighted candle in 
one hand, and with the other pressing the conse- 
crated hand of the purple clothed priest to his 
lips, and kissing it as an act of veneration and 
gratitude for having spent the evening at a game 
with his wife. 

Only go to Rome, and you will see the indis- 
posed fair penitent remain in her bed, and the 
Franciscan friar leaving his sandals hejore the 
door of her bed chamber, as an indication that he 
is performing some ecclesiastical act, then none 
not even the husband can enter the chamber of 
his wife, until the Franciscan friar has finished 
his business and leaves the chamber; then the 
husband with reverence ready waiting at the door, 
kisses the hand of the father Franciscan for his 
kindness for having administered spiritual com- 
fort to his wife, and very often he gives him a 
dollar to say a mass for his indisposed spouse. 



MOHAL CdHRtJPTlON. 189 

But why shall I speak of the moral corruption 
bf popery in Rome ? it is every where the same $ 
it appears difFerentlyj but never changes its char^ 
acter. In America, where female virtue is the 
characteristic of the nation, the only stronghold 
of the American republic, it is under the control 
of the papal priest, ii a Roman Catholic ladyj 
the wife of a free American, should choose to 
have the priest in her bed-room, she has only to 
pretend to be indisposed and asking for the spiri- 
tual father the confessor^ no other person, not even 
the husband dare enter. In Rome it would be at 
the risk of his life ; in America at the risk of be- 
ing excomitlunicated, and deprived of all spiri- 
tual privileges of the churchy even excluded from 
heaven* 

But enough, I will no longer bespatter my pa-* 
ges with th^ immorality of the priests of the city 
of Rome ; I will finish in the language of the 
celebrated speaker in the council of Trent, Father 
Antonius Paganus^ a minorite of the order of 
St. Franciscus. "I am silent [says that orator] 
respecting public adulteries, rapes and robberies ; 
I pass over the great effusion of christian blood, 
unlawful exactions, impositions gratuitously ac- 
cumulated, and for whatsoever cause they were 



190 MORAL CORRUPTION. 

introduced, persevered in without cause, and in* 
numerable oppressions of this kind ; I pass over 
the proud pomp of clothing, extraordinary expen- 
ses beyond the requirements of their station in 
life, drunkenness, surfeits, and the inordinate 
filthiness of luxury, such as never took place be- 
fore. Women were never less modest and bash- 
ful ; young men were never more unbridled and 
undisciplined ; the old were never more irreligi- 
ous and foolish ; in fine, never was there in any 
person less fear of God, honor, virtue, and mo- 
desty ; and never did carnal licentiousness, abuse 
and irregularity prevail to such an extent. For 
what greater abuse and irregularity can be imagin- 
ed than a pastor without watchfulness, a preacher 
without w^orks, a judgp without equity, a lawyer 
without honesty, a magistrate without decorum, 
laws without observance, a people without obedi- 
ence, religious professors without devotion, the 
rich without shame, the poor without humility, 
women without pity, the young without discip- 
line, the old without prudence, and every chris^ 
tian without religion ? It was for a similar rea- 
son that David said : ' God looked down from 
heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there was 
any one who was wise, and sought God. All had 



MORAL CORRUPTION. 191 

gone out of the way, all were become unprofit- 
able, there was no one that did good, not one.' 
And Jeremiah says : * They all from the least to 
the greatest seek covetousness, and from the 
prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth 
falsely." ' ' 

I will continue to show the moral corruptions 
of the church of Rome by their own writers, and 
next I refer my readers to a witness w^hom no 
Roman Catholic can repudiate ; she not only 
being a canonized saint, but also her book of Re- 
velations, from which I quote, has been sanction- 
ed by ttvo councils and three popes, viz : by the 
councils of Constance and Basilea, and Popes 
Urban VI., Martin V. and Paul V., I allude to the 
Revelations of Santa. Bridget, a most devoted 
member and canonized saint of the church of 
Rome. Christ is represented by her as express- 
ing himself respecting the popes in the following 
terms : " Now, therefore, I complain of thee, the 
head of my church, who sittest in my seat, which 
I delivered to Peter and his successors to sit there- 
on with a triple dignity and authority. First, 
that they should have the power of binding and 

^SeeLabbsei. 20, 1219-— 1223. 



\'d2 MORAL CORRUPTION. 

loosing souls from sin; secondly, that they should 
open heaven to the penitent; thirdly, that they 
should shut heaven against the accursed and the 
blasphemous. But you who ought to loosen 
souls, and to present them to i?ie, you truly are 
slayers of souls. For I appointed Peter the pas- 
tor and preserver of my sheep* But you are their 
dispersers and tormentors. You are worse than 
Lucifer. For he envied me, and desired to slay 
me only, in order that he might rule in my stead; 
but you are worse than him, forasmuch as you 
not only slay me, by removing me from thee by 
your evil works, but you also slay souls by your 
bad example^ I have redeemed the souls with 
my blood, and have committed them to you as to 
a faithful friend, but you betray them to the invet- 
erate enemy from whom I redeemed them. You 
are more unjust than Pilate, who sentenced no 
one beside me to death. But you not only con*- 
demn me, as if Lord of no one, and worthy of no 
good thing, you also condemn innocent souls and 
dismiss the guilty. You are more merciless than 
Judas, who sold me only, but you not only sell 
me, but also the souls of my elect, for vile gain, 
and for an empty name. You are m^ore abomi- 
nable than the Jews, they crucified only my body. 



MORAL CORRUPTION. 193 

but you crucify and punish the souls of my elect 
to whom your malice and wrong is more bitter 
than any sword. Therefore, because you are like 
Lucifer, more unjust than Pilate, more cruel than 
Judas, and more abominable than the Jews, I pro- 
perly complain of you." ^ 

Among the many authorities, I shall adduce 
only another impartial evidence of Honorius 
August odunensis 9 a celebrated scholastic divine 
of Autun, who lived in the twelfth century. 
*' Turn to the citizens of Babylon ; and observe 
what manner of people they be, and by what 
ways they walk ; come hither, to the top of the 
mountain, that thou mayest behold all the habita- 
tions of the damned city. Look upon her princes 
and judges, cardinals and arch-bishops, the very 
seal of the beast is placed upon them. All day 
they are intent to do evil ; ever insatiably occu- 
pied in the works of iniquity. They not only 
themselves perform, but instruct others in flagiti- 
ous wickedness. They offer things sacred for 
sale, and labor with all their might that they may 
not descend alone into hell."^ Such are the pic- 

^Revelation Sanctse Brig. lib. i. chap. 41, Colonise, 

^Dial. de Praedest. et lib. arbit. cited by Tf^ite in 
his reply to the Jesuit Fisher, 

17 



194 HOLY COUNCILS. 

tures of papal Rome by their own divines and 
saints. Will Roman Catholics yet shut their eyes 
to the truth ? Will they longer continue in error 
without examining and investigating the founda- 
tion of their soul's salvation, or rely upon the ipse 
dixit, the words of the priests ? In Italy where 
the paid spies listen to every sigh, where the In- 
quisition interprets every word, and punishes it as 
heresy, Roman Catholics are in a measure excu- 
sable, but in a Protestant country, in America, the 
land of freedom, the country of the Bible, among 
an enlightened and progressive nation, it will be 
to the greater damnation to those who neglect 
their soul's salvation. 



THE HOLY COUNCILS OF THE 
CHURCH OF ROME, 

I am an enemy of every thing which has only 
the appearance of acrimony much more of hos- 
tility ; but when I think of the soul-destroying 
doctrines of the church of Rome, and that even 
after the clear demonstration of the corruptions of 
the heads of their church, [the popes,] some will 
still be guided by prejudices, saying: '* It is un- 



HOLY COUNCILS; 195 

ddriiable j^so it is indeed] that there wete popes j 
who have been immoral end corrupt, but that does 
hot affect the church and its principles. If any 
man can show us that the church of Rome itself 
in its principles is corrupt and immoral, then we 
shall abandon it as an incurable system of error.'^ 
The definition of the (ihurch of Rome is quite 
different from the general acceptation of the wordj 
and the Biblical conception which Protestant 
theologians have formed. The Protestant divines 
divide the church into visible and invisible ; each 
of them forms a separate body. A person may 
be a member of thd visible Protestant church, 
without being a living member of the mystical 
body of Christ ; and vice versa, a person may be 
^ child of God withotit ever having joined a visi^ 
ble church. That is not the case in the papal 
church ; for in that church the members and pro- 
fessors of the Rortian faith do not constitute the 
church, but the bishops in council, with the infaU 
lible pope at the head, guided by the Holy Ghost, 
constitute the visible and invisible church. For 
the councils being the sole interpreters of th6 
word of God, and the pope being the infallible 
head, expresses through the Holy Spirit the sen- 
timents of the church, [viz : of the councils,] and 



196 lioLlr cdtJi^clt^. 

"Whosoever denies that authority, they withoiit atiy 
hesitation anathematize in their usual phraseology* 
*' Let him be cursed*" I will therefore prove that 
the councils have been corrupt in doctrines^ irn-^ 
moral in principles and contradictory in their 
proceedings. 

Not only the popes as private individuals Were 
corrupt and immoral, but the General Councils 
have been, like the Romari pontiffs, a stigma on 
religion and a disgrace to humanity^ What were 
these conventions in point of respectability? They 
unhappily were inferior to an assembly of the low* 
est plebeians, yes! inferior to a modern cock-fight 
or a bull-baiting in a circus of the city of Romfei^ 

St. Gregory Nazianzen, who stands high in the 
estimation of the church of Rome, for his learn^ 
ing and Virtue ; who is adored as a saint, and 
\vhose writings are adopted as a standard by all 
their theologians^ describes the councils with the 
pencil of truth and with the hand of a master. *' t 
never [says the Grecian bishop] saw a Synod 
which had a happy termination. These conven- 
tions instead of diminishing, unfortunately aug- 

^This barbarous custom is even yet kept up in the 
city of Rome, constituting one of the summer amuse^ 
ments of that city. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 197 

mented the evil which they were intended to 
remedy. Passion, jealousy, envy, prejudice and 
the ambition of victory prevail and surpass all des- 
cription. Zeal is actuated rather by malignancy 
to the criminal than aversion to the crime." 

He farther compares the dissensions and wrang- 
ling exhibited in the councils, to the quarrels of 
geese and cranes, gabbling and contending in con- 
fusion ; and represents such disputation and vain 
jangling as calculated to demoralize the spectator 
rather than to correct or reform. This portrait, 
which is taken from life, exhibits in graphic deli- 
neation a»d in true colors, the genuine features of 
all the general, infallible, apostolic councils of 
Holy Rome. Let us take a glance at the General 
Synods of Constantinople, Nice, Lyons, Con- 
stance and Basil, which are in a particular man- 
ner worthy of our observation. These conventions 
we shall show have been composed of the lowest 
rabble and patronized the vilest abominations. 

The Bizantine assembly, which was the se- 
cond general council, has been faithfully described 
by St. Gregory Nazianzen. This convention the 
saint characterizes as a cabal of wretches fit for 
the house of correction, fellows taken newly from 
the plough, the spade, the oar, and the array. 



198 HOLY COUNCILS. 

Such is a Roman saint's sketch of that most holy, 
apostolic and unerring council. I will give it in a 
note in his own words, in his own language, and 
the reader will see, that I have not exaggerated in 
the description.^ 

The second Nicxan council, without any re- 
gard of their sacred office, unblushingly approved 
of perjury and fornication. The holy infallible 
Synod in loud acclamation, approved of a most 
disgusting and filthy tale, taken from '^the Spiri- 
tual Meadow^^ by sanctioning such sins. I will 
give an outline of the tale, recounting only those 
parts which can be related with propriety. 

"A monk [according to the story] had been 
haunted with the spirit of fornication from early 
life till hoary age. The lascivious propensity 
which is all that could be meant by the demon of 
sensuality, had seized the solitary in the fervor of 
youth, and continued its temptations even in the 
decline of years. One day when the spirit [or 
more probably the flesh] had made an extraordi- 
nary attack on the anchorite, he begged the foul 

^Alii ab arairis venerant adusti a sole ; alii a ligone, 
vel bidente totam diem non quiescente; alii remos 
exercitus ve reliquerant, redolentes adhuc sentinam 
vel corpus faedatum cicatricibus habentes in Flagri- 
oneSj et pistrinis digni. St. Greg. Ep, labb. 2, 1158, 
Du Pin 1, 259. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 199 

fiend to depart, as lie was now arrived at the years 
of advanced age, [when such allurements through 
attendant debility should cease.] The devil ap- 
pearing in his proper form, promised a cessation 
of arms if the hermit would swear to tell no per- 
son what he was going to say.^ The monk with- 
out hesitation obeyed the devil, and bound him- 
self by oath to secrecy. The devil administered, 
and the monk swore. He swore by the Most 
High never to divulge what Belial would tell. 
The solitary, it appears, was sufficiently acquaint 
ed and on very good terms with Beelzebub, who 
as an act of intimate friendship, promised to with- 
draw his temptations if the monk would quit 
worshipping a statue of Lady Mary, carrying her 
son in her arms. 

The monk, though decrepit, it seems, did not 
reject the temptation with becoming resolution. 
He requested time for consideration. And next 
day, notwithstanding his oath, he revealed the 
whole circumstance to the Abbot Theodoru^, who 
lived in Pharan. The holy Abbot f who was, as 
the reader can easily perceive, a Roman Catholic 

Uura mihi, quod ea quae tibi dicam nemini signifi- 
cabis, et non aniplius tecum pugnabo. Crab. 2, 520. 
Bin. 5, 642. 



200 HOLY COUNCILS. 

theologian,] called the oath a delusion, at the 
same time he approved of the confession, and in 
consequence [notwithstanding his sanctity,] ap- 
proved of the perjury too. 

The devil, it appears, according to popish di- 
vinity, is considered a heretic, which as a matter 
of course, warranted the violation of faith with 
his infernal majesty. St. Theodorus told the 
monk, *' you ought rather to visit all the brothels 
in the city, than omit worshipping Immanuel and 
his mother in their images."* What a blasphe- 
my; not to speak of the immoral inculcation, 
but only of the heresy, the anti-scriptural senti- 
ments which are expressed in his words. To be 
called a heretic by such men, and excommunica- 
ted by such pontiffs, is a great honor, it is a great 
blessing. The manner in which that saint solved 
a case of conscience, showed that his ability as a 
casuist, exceeded his morality as a man. 

Returning to the tale of '* the Spiritual Mea- 
dow," we find, that Satan afterward appeared to 
the monk indignant, and accused him of perjury, 

* '' Expedit tibi potius, ut non dimittas in civitate 
ista lupinar, in quod non introeas, quam ut recuses 
adorare Dominum et Deum nostrum Jesum Christum, 
cum propria matre sua in immagine." Labbeus 8, 
902. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 201 

and pronounced his doom at the day of judgment. 
It strikes me that the devil had felt a greater hor- 
ror of perjury than the papal monk, and preached 
better morality than saint Theodoras, or the Holy 
General Council. The anchorite, in his reply to 
the fiend, admitted that he had perjured himself, 
but declared that he had not abjured his God. 

Such is the tale as related in the Sacred Synod, 
from " the Spiritual Meadow," The holy fath- 
ers of the council with unanimous consent, ap- 
proved of the conduct of the monk, as well as of 
the saint Theodorus, and by their approbation, 
showed the refinement of their taste for debauch- 
ery, by sanctioning the advice rather to visit all 
the brothels in the city, than omit worshipping 
their goddess, or in other words, it is better to 
be a perjurer, a profligate, and debauchee, tlian 
to forsake the adoration of the holy Virgin Lady 
Mary. 

Theodorus' sermon, which is so warmly re- 
commended by the Sacred Synod, incouraged the 
monk, rather than forsake his idol, which in all 
probability, was a parcel of worthless lumber, to 
launch into the troubled waters of prostitution, and 
with crowded canvass and swelling sail, to sweep 
the wide ocean of licentiousness, 
18 



202 HOLY COUNCILS. 

The picture of sensuality as presented in the 
Abbot's holy advice, seems to have tickled the 
fancy and feeling of the holy fathers of the apos- 
tolical council, who appeared to hav« been actu- 
ated with the same spirit in the council, as the 
monk in his cell. The old sensualists gloated 
over the scene of voluptuousness, which the The- 
odorian theology had presented to their view. — » 
The aged libertines seemed to be entirely enam- 
ored of the tale, caused it to be repeated in the 
fifth session, for the laudable purpose of once 
more glutting their libidinous imagination with its 
filthiness. 

Even the Caroline books, [the production of 
the French king and prelacy,] deprecated the 
story as an unprecedented absurdity and pesti- 
lential evil. Du Pin J the great Roman Catholic 
historian, actuated with the sentiments of a man 
and a christian, condemns the synod, equally de- 
precates the whole transaction, and even refuses 
to translate the Abbot of Pharan's holy homily. 

Using the language of a modern writer,^ who 
says, " The Nicaeans nevertheless, boasted of 
their inspiration. The sacred synod, amid all its 

^Sam. Eager, of the infallibility. Page 169. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 203 

atrocities, pretended to the immediate influence of 
heaven. The divine afflatus, forsooth, passed 
through these sinks of pollution, and made the 
consecrated rufl^ians the channels of supernatural 
communications to man. The source of their in- 
spiration, if the holy fathers felt such an impulse, 
is easy to tell. The spirit which influenced the 
secluded monk, seems to have been busy with 
the worthy bishops, and to have stimulated their 
imaginations to the enjoyment of the obscene 
story, and the approbation of its foul crimin- 
adity." 

The holy infallible council of Lyons^ has beeii 
delineated in a portrait taken from life by Math- 
eus Paris, a contemporary historian, who recounts 
that, " Pope Innocent, retiring from the General 
Council of Lyons, in which he had presided, 
cardinal Hugo made a farewell speech for His 
Holiness, and thf* whole court to the citizens whd 
had assembled on the occasion, to witness the de- 
parture of his infallible lordship. " Friends, (said 
the cardinal,) we have efl^ected a work of great 
utility and charity in this city. When we came 
to Lyons, we found three or four brothels in it, 
and we have left at our departure only one. But 



204 HOLY COUNCILS. 

this one extends from the eastern to the western 
gate of the city." ^ 

The inspired fathers of that council who should 
have been patrons of purity, seem on this occa- 
sion to have been the agents of demoralization 
throughout the city in which they assembled. 
The same historian, (cardinal Hugo,) speaking in 
the name of His Holiness, gloried in his shame, 
and talked of the abominations of himself and his 
companions in a strain of railery and unblushing 
effrontery. 

The Constantine council was characterized by 
father Paptiza, one of its own members, as the 
most infernal. His portrait is frightful. The 
clergy, he declared were nearly all under the 
power of the devil, and mocked all religion by 
external devotion, and pharisaic hypocrisy. The 
prelacy, actuated only by malice, iniquity, pride, 
vanity, ignorance, lasciviousness, avarice, pomp, 
simony, and dissimulation, had exterminated 
Catholicism, and extinguished piety.^ 

^Tria vel quotuor prostibula inveninius. Unum 
solum relinquimus. Verum ipsum durat continuatum 
ab orientali porta civitatis usque occidentalem. Mat. 
Paris, page 792. 

^Baptiza 2, page 95. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 205 

The character of the holy bishops, appeared 
from their company, to be the most destitute and 
wretched. More than seven hundred public wo- 
men^ according to Dachery's account, attended to 
the sacred synod. Though the Vienna manu- 
script reckons the number of these female attend- 
ants, whom it calls vagrant prostitutes at fifteen 
hundred. 

" This was a fair supply, (says Samuel Edger, 
page 170,) for the thousand holy fathers, who 
constituted the Constantine council." 

Bruys, another Roman Catholic writer, adds : 
" These courtesans were in appearance intended 
to exercise the chastity of the clergy." As far as 
my knowledge extends of priestly chastity, I have 
no doubt whatever, that their company contributed 
no little to the entertainment of the learned di- 
vines, and introduced great variety into their 
amusements. 

The Council of Basil taught the theory of 
filthiness, as that of Constance had exhibited the 
practice. Carlerius, the champion of the Roman 
church in the Basilian assembly against Nicolas, 
the Bohemian heretic, advocated the propriety of 
tolerating stews in the city.^ This hopeful, and 

^Haec pestis maneat in urbibus. Canisius 4, 457. 



206 HOLY COUNCILS* 

to the fathers of the council pleasing thesis, the 
hero of the faith supported by the authority of 
St. Augustine and Acquinas. " Remove prosti- 
tutes, (says Augustine as cited by Carlerius,) and 
you will disturb all things with licentiousness. 
Human government should (says the saint) im- 
itate the divine ; but God (according the saint) 
permits some evils in the universe, and therefore 
so should man." * 

His saintship speaks by experience, and shows 
that his logic is as good as his morality. For 
simple fornication is to be permitted to avoid a 
greater evil. The Roman population at large, 
and especially the husbands, experienced the 
effects of that holy decision of the council of 
Basil. 

I will say nothing of the hateful and degrading 
doctrine of materialism, patronized in the coun- 
cils of Nice, Vienna and Lateran; I will only 
state that it is no wonder that the purgatory box 
is kept as the only panacea for the soul's salva- 
tion. It is not astonishing that transubstantiation 
is taught as an article of faith, and the wafer-god 

^Aufer meretrices de rebus humanis, turbaveiis om- 
nia libidinibus. Labb. 17, 986. Deus permittit ali- 
qua mala fieri in universe. Acquinas ii. 10, 11. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 207 

elevated for the adoration of the christians. It is 
not surprising that a rosary is substituted for the 
atoning blood of the Redeemer of the world ; that 
bones and rags of all kinds are adored instead of 
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world. It is not astonishing that ignorance, pre- 
judice and superstition cover like dark clouds, the 
mind of papists, and that inquisitions, tortures 
and blood have been the means of the aggrandize- 
ment to the church of Rome^ when the Roman 
pontiffs and the General Councils were (according 
to the accounts of their own historians,) sunk into 
the lowest depths of vice and abomination. A 
rapid view of the six centuries, that preceded the 
reformation, sketched by the warmest partizans of 
the papacy, will show the correctness, truth and 
justice of this imputation. 

The tenth century has been portrayed by the 
pencil of Sabellicus, Stella, Baronius, Gianone 
and Du Pin* No man can read them without 
shedding tears over the church of Christ. Stupor 
and forgetfulness of morals invaded the minds of 
men. All virtue fled from the pontiff and the 
people. This whole period was characterized by 
obduracy, and an inundation of overflowing wick- 
edness. The Roman church was filthy and de- 



208 HOLY COUNCILS. 

formed, and the abomination of desolation was 
erected in the temple of God. Holiness had es- 
caped from the world, and God seemed to have 
forgotten his church, which was buried in a chaos 
of impiety. I will let their own faithful historians 
speak in the note below, and the reader will be 
convinced of the immorality and open corruption 
of the church of Rome.^ 

The eleventh century has been described by 
Gulielmus, Paris, Spondanus and Baronius. Gu- 
lielmus portrays the scene in dark and frightful 
colors. '* Faith was not found on earth, all flesh 
had corrupted its way. Justice, equity, virtue, 
sobriety and the fear of God perished, and were 
succeded by violence, fraud, stratagem, malevo- 
lence, circumvention, luxury, drunkenness and 
debauchery. All kinds of abomination and incest 
were committed without shame or punishment." 
The colors used by Paris, are equally black and 

^Stupor et amentia quaedam oblivioque ir.orum in- 
vaserat hominum animos. Sabellicus II. 

Quis non puterit Deam oblitum ecclesiae suae. Spon 
iii. p. 908. 

C/ontingerit abominationem desolationis in templo. 
Baron, i. p. 900. 

L'eglise etait dans un etat pitoyable, defiguree par 
les plus grands desorderes, et plongee dans un chaos 
d'impietes. Gionnon vii. 5. Du Pin 2, p. 156. Bruy 
2, p. 316. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 209 

shocking. " The nobility (says the English his- 
torian) were the slaves of gluttony and sensuality. 
All in common passed their days and nights in 
protracted drunkenness and sensual entertain- 
ments. They provoked surfeit by voraciousness 
and vomit by inebriety." The outlines of Spon- 
danus and Baronius correspond with those of 
Gulielmus and Paris. Piety and holiness (these 
historians are obliged to confess) had fled from 
the earth, whilst irregularity and iniquity among 
all and in an especial manner among the clergy, 
every where reigned. The sacraments in many 
parts of Christendom, ceased to be dispensed. 
The few men of piety, from the unparalleled at- 
trocity of the times, thought that the reign of anti- 
christ had commenced and that the world was 
hastening to its end."^ 

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were simi- 
lar in their morals, and have been faithfully des- 

^Fides deficerit, at domini timor erat de medio sub- 
latus. Perierat de rebus, justicia et aequitate subacta, 
violentia dominabatur in populis. Fraus, dolus, et 
circumventio late involverant universa. Fides non 
inveniebatur super terrara, omnis caro corramperat 
viam suam. Bell. Sacram. i. 8. 

Optimates guise et veneri servientes, in cubiculis, 
et inter uxores complexus. Potabatur ab omnibus in 
commune, et tam dies quam noctes, in hoc studio pro- 
ductae sunt. In cibis urgebant crapulam, in potibus 
vomicam irritabant. Paris 5, 1001. Spontanus ii. 
p. 1001. Bruy2, 316. 



210 HOLY COUNCILS. 

cribed by Morlaix, Honoriu? and St. Bernard. 
According to the two former, the picture is a 
melancholy one. Piety and religion seemed to 
bid adieu to man, and for these were substituted 
treachery, fraud, impurity, rapine, schism, quar- 
rels, war and assassination. The throne of the 
beast seemed to be fixed among the clergy who 
neglected God, stained the priesthood with impu- 
rity, demoralized the people with their hypocrisy, 
denied the Lord by their works, and rejected the 
revelation which God gave for the salvation of 
man.* 

St. BernariTs picture of the priesthood, is cer- 
tainly not complimentary, and his character of the 
laity, is of the same unfavorable description. Ac- 
cording to this saint, the putrid contagion had in 
his day, crept through the whole body of the 
cliurch, and the malady was internal, and could 
not be healed. The conduct of the prelacy in se- 
cret, was too gross for expression. Therefore, 

*La fraude, I'impiirete, les rapines, les schismes, les 
qiierelles, les oruerres, les trahison,les homicides sont 
en voprue. Adieu la piete et la religion. Morlaix in 
Bruy 2, 547. 

Tourn toi vers le clerge, tu y verra la tente de la 
Bete. lis negligent le service divin. lis souillent le 
fiacerdoce par leur impuretez, seduisent le peuple par 
leur hypocresie, renient Deupar leurs ouvres. Hono- 
rius in Bruy 2, 547. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 211 

the saint left the midnight monstrosity in its na- 
tive and congenial darkness.^ 

And when he addressed himself to the clergy of 
his time, he gives a full, but the most hideous sketch 
of the moral depravity of his brethren and the 
church in general. He loads the canvass with the 
darkest colors. "The clergy, (said the monk of 
Clairvaux,) are called pastors, but in reality are 
plunderers, who, unsatisfied with the fleece, thirst 
for the blood of the flock, and merit the appellation, 
not of shepherds, but of traitors, who do not feed, 
but slay and devour the sheep. The Saviour's 
reproach, scourges, nails, spear and cross, all 
these, his ministers who serve anti-Christ, melt 
in the furnace of covetousness, and expend for 
the acquisition of filthy gain, differing from Judas 
only in the magnitude of the sum for which they 
sell their master. The degenerate ecclesiastics, 
prompted by avarice, dare for gain, even to bar- 
ter assassination, aduhery, incest, fornication, sac- 
rilege, and perjury. Their extortions they lavish 
on pomp and folly. These patrons of humility, 
appear at home amid royal furniture, and exhibit 

^Serpit hodie putrida tabes per omne corpus Eccles- 
iae. Intestina et insanabilis est plaga Ecclesiae, quae 
enim in occulto facia ab episcopis, turpe sunt dicere, 
St. Bernard, 1728. 



212 HOLY COUNCILS. 

abroad in meretricious finery and theatrical dress. 
Sumptuous food, splendid cups, overflowing cel- 
lars, drunken banquets, accompanied with the 
lyre and the violin, are means by which these 
ministers of the cross evince their self-denial and 
indifference to the world."* 

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have 
been delineated by the bold, but faithful pens of 
Alliaco, Petrarch, Mariana, Aegidius, Mirandula, 
and Fordum. 

Alliaco's description is very striking and sig- 
nificant. " The church, (said the cardinal,) is 
come to such a state, that it is worthy of being 
governed only by reprobates." Petrarch, with- 
out any hesitation, calls Rome, *' Babylon the 
great whore, the school of error, and the temple 
of heresy." The court of Avignon, he pronoun- 
ced, " The sink, and sewer of all vice, and the 
house of hardship and misery." 

Marian^ that celebrated historian complains, as 
every christian would do, who loves his church, 
he sheds tears over the destitute state of the 

^Dicemini pastores cum sitis raptores, sitiis enim 
sanguinem. Non sunt pastores sed traditores. Min- 
istri Christi sunt, et serviunt anti-Christo ; ven- 
dunt homicidia, adulteria, fornicationes, sacrilegia, 
perjuria. St. Bernard, page 1725 — 1728. 



HOLY COUNCILS. 2 IS 

t^hurch of Rome, which he loves with his whole 
heart* '* Every enormity had passed into custom 
mid law, and was committed without fear; shame 
and modesty were banished, while by a mon* 
strous irregularity, the most dreadful outrages, per-^ 
fidy and treason were better recompensed than 
the brightest virtue. The wickedness of the 
pontiff, and the corruptions of the fathers of the 
councils, descended to the people^"^ A book of 
three hundred pages is not ample enough to con* 
tain all the historical facts of the degraded statcj 
ianti*biblical decisions, and moral corruptions of 
the most holy, apostolic, and infallible councils of 
the papal religion. I will conclude with the lofty 
sentiments of the zealous Roman Catholic writer^ 
the never dying Italian poet, Petrarch. 

" Gia Roma, or Babilonia, falsa^ e ria," &c, 

*' Formerly Rome, now Babylon, false and 

guilty — hell of the living J It will be a great 

miracle, if Christ is not angry with thee at last !" ® 

I ask every man of sincerity, I make an appeal 

to every christian, without any distinction of reli-^ 

^Les plus grand crimes etaint presque poussez en 
coQtume et en loi, on les commitoit sans crainte, la 
bonte et la poudeur etaient banies, et par un deregle- 
ment monstraeux, les plus noirs attentats, les perfid-* 
ieSj les trahisons etait meux recompensees que ne I'eta- 
lent les vertus les plus ecclatants. Marian 5, 718. 

Tetrarch, vol. 4, p. 149, 



2t4 noLV cotNciLSi 

gious party, to tell me where the Roman chiitctl 
is, if she is not to be found in the holy apostolic 
and unerring councils, where shall we look for 
her? In the priests? They are subject to the 
direction and obedience of the popes, and have 
no other authority than that which is conferred 
upon them by the supreme pontiff, the most holy 
infallible head, the pope. When Luther inter* 
preted the scriptures according to his own con- 
science^ the pope excommunicated him as a heretic. 

Shall we seek the church in the cortupt power 
of the so-called vicar of Christ ? Roman Cath*- 
olics say, '*The popes have been men like oth^ 
ers, [and they were bad men indeed,] who had 
their faults, whom we consider as the head of the 
church, but not the chutch itself." 

Shall we seek the church in the people, which 
would be the very place according to the word of 
God ? The pope of Rome would say, '' That is 
heresy. They have no right to interpret the Bi- 
ble by themselves ; that is Lutheranism. Let it 
be accursed." For as soon as the people begin 
to be the church, they have a right to decide in 
matters of faithj and make the Bible their rule of 
faith if they choose. That, according to the 
present statutes of the papal church is a prerog- 



VIJCATAI^. 215 

fetive which belongs exclusively to thd sacred 
councils presided over by the pope^ as the head 
of the church. 

The reader sees that the councils^ or m othei* 
wotds, the bishops Controlled by the pope, are 
the church of Rome. That is the reason that 
they conclude every article of faith, [I say 
every article without exception,] with the words, 
*' Whosoever denies it, let him be accursed.'^ 

Roman Catholics I be sincere, let sound reason^ 
rectitude of mind, purity of conscience prevail 
for an hour ; listen iiot to me j but to the history 
of your own writers. Bead the bloody history 
of your church; examine the corrupt decisions 
of your councils; number (if you can,) the im- 
moral acts of those fathers, who wrote the arti- 
cles of your faith. Inquire into the truth, if it 
is to be found in those polluted channels of the 
councils, or in the pure fountain of the living 
word of God. Search the scriptures, for in them 
you will find eternal life. 

Look to the deplorable state of Mexico, enter 
into the examination of the state of Yiicatan.-^ 
You will see that those palaces, now in ruinSy 
have been inhabited by a civilized people ; and 
judging from the architecture of the ruins^ it ws& 



gl6 VUCATAN. 

a nation of taste, in the possession of arts and 
sciences, as the Chinese and other nations, who 
had not been in contact with the civihzation of 
Europe. 

It is not yet three liundted years, that the Span- 
iards took possession of it, that they came under 
the iron rod of priestly government and papal influ- 
ence. *' They are no moreJ*^ Their palaces lie 
in ruins ; arts and sciences are lost ; the nation 
perished, and the wild ruins are living monu- 
ments of the melancholy effects of papal influence. 
Study the progressive spirit of the nineteenth 
century, and you will find in all the Protestant 
countries, commerce (if not flourishing) at least 
not languishing; steamboats, manufactories, rail- 
roads for the facility of their communication; 
arts and sciences generally incouraged ; and liber- 
ty of conscience and of the press as the vehicle 
of social actions. Go to Italy, Spain and Portu- 
gal, to our neighbors of South America, you will 
find misery, ignorance, oppression and a convul- 
sive strugle between the principles of liberty and 
papal tyranyv 

Columbia! thou land of freedom, asylum of 
the oppressed; the tyrant's scourge and freeman's 
joy ; patern of all nations and the people's coun- 
try. Shall Yucatan's doom be thine ? Wilt 



YUCATAN. 217 

thou allow thy cherished sons to become slaves 
of Jesuits, and thy lovely daughters demoralized 
by priests and monks as those in Italy ? Wilt 
thou permit that thy political institutions, which 
have been dearly bought with the blood of thy 
first-born heroes, to be effaced by the coward 
hand of a priest, who sways his bloody sceptre 
in Rome? No, That cannot be. Thou art 
young, it is true, but wise enough* Thou art 
inexperienced in the strategems of Jesuits, in- 
trigues of monks, and finess of popery, but thou 
art strong enough to strike the blow in time. O ! 
Italy ! Italy ! why art thou not stronger or less 
beautiful! Conquered, or conquerer, thou art al- 
ways a slave ! 

Roman Catholics ! freedom of thought, liberty of 
conscience, is my aim, happiness of mind, peace 
of heart is my principal desire, and the salvation of 
your souls, my only prayer ; which the adoration 
of images, the kissing of relics, the kneeling be- 
fore the host, the money for purgatory, the hear- 
ing of a latin mass which you do not understand, 
or the counting of the beads of the Rosary, will 
not, and cannot give. None but Jesus Christ, the 
only Mediator between God and man, can save ; 
if He make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 
19 



JESUITISM. 

My intention is not to write what I have heard 
from others respecting those devoted children of 
the zealous Ignazius Loyola, but what I have seen 
and observed by my frequent intercourse with 
them. Having been a pupil in the college of the 
Jesuits, I must confess, that from what I know 
and have seen of them, they are worthy sons 
of such a father. 

The name Jesuit is one of reproach among 
Protestants ; in Rome it commands respect ming- 
led with fear. In Protestant countries they 
(though numerous) are never apparently seen ; 
but in Rome they are every where present. Pro- 
testants abhor Jesuitism, (and well they might) 
for the name Jesuit is associated with regicide 
and the gunpowder plot, with the bloody night of 
St. Bartholomew and the desolation of Europe; 
in Rome they are not only the chief counselors of 
every project, but the executors of every plan 
framed by the secret council of the Vatican. To 
kill kings is out of the question, for they know 
tiiat without the assistance of kings they will 
never succeed in oppressing liberty and opposing 



.ttestlTL^M. 21 ^J 

the progi^essive spirit of the nineteenth century. 
Neither is there danger that modern Jesuitisnl 
will teach molinism and probabilism, for the pre- 
sent generation is too virtuous, and science has 
found its way out of their doorsi With all these 
it is still the ever-living spirit of Jesuitisrn. 

A Jesuit is an amphibious being; he is (accord-^ 
ing to his constitution) neither a monk iior a secu- 
lar priest ; still he is both wheii required. The 
spirit of domination is the foundation of his order, 
and at the same time yoii see him creeping like a 
worm in the dust to be (apparently) crushed by 
every foot that passes by. He is a monarchist iri 
Austria, a revolutionist in Francje, an autocrat in 
Italy and a republican in the United States. In 
one word he is every thing, in order to obtain his 
aim, for the ent? sanctifies the means. A Jesuit 
is like a bat; when the cat comes, it says : *' I 
am a bird," extending its wirlgs and flies ; if the 
hawk appears, it creeps in the darkest holes and 
exclaims : " I am a mouse." Such is the char- 
acter of Jesuitism. 

To become a Jesuit and to be welcomed at theii^ 
doors, a person must have one of the three requi- 
sites, talents, nobility or money. Talent is 
the chief object, nobility is preferred before mo«^ 
ney. 



220 JESUITISM. 

The bull of restoration by Pius VII. in tlid ye^f 
1814, was an unfortunate event for the church of 
Rome ; not only because it has restored the Jesu- 
its, but because it gave a tremendous blow to the 
infallible authority of the pope ; it showed that the 
bull of Clement XiV. in which that pontiff sup- 
pressed and annulled the order of the Jesuits was 
wrongs and how can we know that his bull of 
restoration is right ? Popery boasts loudly of its 
uniformity of creed j unity of actions and infalli- 
bility of authority, but is it not surprising to see 
the same authority in contradiction with itself? 
The house is divided and it must falL But as 
there is no effect without a cause, so the soi dis^ 
ant infallible heads did nothing without a good 
cause, and that cause was self-interest* In the 
year 1773, Clement XiV. saw his interest in th^ 
destruction of the Jesuits; Pius VII. restored it 
for the same reason. Clement acted biefore th^ 
revolution, Pius after it. The revolution was the 
line of demarcation; 

Jesuitism and the reformation are cohtempor^ 
aneous; like cause and effect, so was one the 
effect of the other. The light of reformation 
broke through the dense darkness of papal super- 
stition ; the so-called seat of Peter was shakeuj 



JESUITISM. 221 

the thunders of the Vatican were rendered pow- 
erless ; the church was attacked and wounded in 
the most vital part; nothing but a holy militia 
could save her from entire destruction. The 
period of reformation was short, the spirit of Lu- 
ther was soon spent, and the period of Protestant- 
ism and the spirit of polemics unfortunately took 
its place ; instead of uniting against the common 
enemy, the children of the reformation disagreed 
in doctrinal points, and divided on the same 
ground. Germany and Switzerland were the 
theatre, and the Jesuits not inactive spectators of 
those trying times. The Bihle and reason were 
the greatest enemies to papal darkness and were 
evaded by the Jesuits, whilst the banner of science 
and erudition was unfurled in their stead. During 
the time that the sons of the glorious reformation 
discussed their dogmatical points, the Jesuits 
fought in the foremost ranks for popery, raised 
again the beaten down standard of Rome and tried 
to give new lustre to the ancient honors of the 
triple crown. 

It would be ridiculous if I were to make any 
distinction between ancient and modern Jesuitism, 
for that sect never changes. The leopard may 
change its spots and the Etliiopian his color, but 



222 JESUITISM. 

Jesuits will remain always the same. They are 
as ill time of old, cunning and sagacious in gain- 
ing the favor of the great and the heart of youth. 
Jesuitism is all activity as in the day of its origin ; 
having determined to go, they advance, they re- 
solve to accomplish an object and succeed. To 
realize a project they evade all laws ; they clear 
them by a leap or trample them under foot as 
they did before their suppression. If they aim 
at an object, they exert all these influences, resort 
to stratagems, equivocations and intrigues to ob- 
tain it, for conscientious scruples are trifles. The 
evil has risen to a point where concealment is cri- 
minal. Charity is due to the righteous, not to 
men who are guilty of delinquencies against 
righteousness to such a high degree. 

It is not more than twenty-eight years since 
they have been restored by the good but imbecile 
Pius VII. , and they have their foot upon every 
kingdom and empire in both hemispheres of the 
globe. In Europe the people had a severe lesson 
of the past, and their progress is slow, though 
their influence great. In the United States the 
free political institutions and the separation be- 
tween church and state are favorable for the pro- 
gress of Jesuitism ; North America is the chosen 



JESUITISM. 223 

laad, the second Paraguay. In Europe the Jesuits 
are under the direction of the Secretary of State; 
under the vigilance of the police^ only as long as 
they promote the interest of the State in the king- 
dom in which they live, they are tolerated; but 
in America they are under the entire direction of 
the pope. The political prosperity of the United 
States and the promotion of their interest are not 
the interest of a foreign Jesuit, who is the citizen 
of Rome, and is obliged by oatJi, without mental 
reservation, not to become a citizen of any here- 
tical ov Protestant power; not Xo recognize any 
other head but the pope residing in Rome, as tlie 
oath of the Jesuits will show. 

JESUIT'S OATH. 

''I, A. B., now in the presence of Almighty 
God, the blessed Virgin Mary, the blessed Mich- 
ael the archangel, the blessed St. John the Bap- 
tist, the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and 
the saints and the sacred host of heaven, and to 
you my ghostly father do declare from my heart, 
without mental reservation, that His Holiness 
pope Gregory XVI. is Christ's Vicar General, 
and is the true and only Head of the Catholic 



224 JESUITISM. 

or Universal Church, throughout the earth; and 
that by the virtue of the iveys of binding and 
loosing given to his holiness by Jesus Christ, 
he hath power to depose heretical kings ^ princes^ 
states, commonwealths, and governments, all 
being illegal, without his sacred confirmation, 
and that they may safely be destroyed ; there- 
fore, to the utmost of my powder, 1 shall and will 
defend this doctrine and his holiness's rights and 
customs against all usurpers of the heretical or 
Protestant authority whatsoever, especially against 
the new pretended authority and church of En- 
gland, and all adherents, in regard that they and 
she be usurpal and heretical, opposing the sacred 
mother church of Rome. / do renounce and 
disown my allegiance as due to any heretical 
king, prince, or slate, named Protestants, or 
obedience to any of their inferior magistrates or 
officers. I do further declare the doctrine of the 
church of England, of the Calvanists, Hugue- 
nots, and other Protestants, to be damnable, and 
those to he damned who will not forsake the 
same. I do further declare, that I will help, as- 
sist, and advise all, or any of his holiness' agents 
in any place wherever I shall be ; and do my ut- 
most TO extirpate the heretical Protest- 



JESUITISM. 225 

ants' droctrine, and to destroy cdl their pretend- 
ed powers, regal or otherwise. I do further pro- 
mise and declare, that notwithstanding I am dis- 
pensed to assume any religion heretical, for the 
propagating of the mother church's interest, to 
keep secret and private all her agents' coun- 
sels, as they entrust me, and not to divulge, di- 
rectly or indirectly, by w^ord, writing or circum- 
stances whatsoever, but shall execute all which 
shall be proposed, given in charge, or discovered 
unto me, by you my ghostly father, or by any of 
this sacred convent. All which, I, A. B., do swear 
by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament, 
which I am now to receive, to perform and on my 
part to keep inviolably ; and do call all the heav- 
enly and glorious host of heaven, to witness these 
my real intentions to keep this, my oath. In tes- 
timony hereof, I take this most holy and blessed 
sacrament of the Eucharist, and witness the same 
further with my hand and seal, in the face of this 
holy convent, this — day — An. Dom." &c. 

America is the promised land, the land of the 
Jesuit's operations to obtain the ascendency, 
they have no need of a mercenary Swiss guard, 
or the assistance of the mighty bayonets of the 
holy alliance, but a majority of votes, which can 
20 



226 JESUITISM. 

easily be obtained by an importation of Roman 
Catholic voters from Ireland, Bavaria, and Aus- 
tria. Rome, viewed at a distance, is a colossus ; 
near at hand its grandeur diminishes, its charm is 
lost. But the Jesuits are everywhere the same, 
cunning, immoral, and sneaking intriguers until 
they have obtained the ascendency. Rome feels 
her weakness at home, she knows herself to be a 
mere political institution, dressed in the garment 
of christianily, she takes good care to uphold 
that holy militia, the Jesuits, in order to appear 
what she is not. It is a strife for existence. 

I am not a politician, but knowing the active 
spirit of Jesuitism, and the indifference of the 
generality of Protestants, I have no doubt what- 
ever, that in ten years the Jesuits will have a 
mighty influence over the ballot-box, and in iwen- 
ty, they will direct it according to their own 
pleasure. Now they fawn, in ten years they will 
menace, and in twenty, command. 

Protestants are divided; they have no other 
common centre than the Bible ; they have no ex- 
clusive source from whence power flows in every 
religious society, but the Bible. They have no 
Rome, no predecessor of Rome. Nor the pre- 
tentions of Rome. Protestants have (through 



JESUITISM. 227 

the grace of God,) no visible head to whom a 
special deference from all parties is paid, and 
from whom honors and power are to be expect- 
ed; in one word, they have no Rome. 

Religion has nothing to do with the political 
institutions of America. The exaltation, or de- 
pression, the triumph or defeat of religious de- 
nominations, is of no importance in the political 
order of the United States. It is not so with 
Rome, everything in popery tends to Rome. She 
exercises an immense power over her ministers, 
and through them over her faithful adherents; 
consequently the chief of these militia every- 
where to be found, is the pope. 

A Roman Catholic bishop in France, Mr. De 
Prat says : " The pope counts more subjects 
than a sovereign; more even than many sover- 
eigns together^ That is very natural, for the 
sovereigns have subjects only in their territory, 
the pope counts subjects upon the territory of all 
sovereigns. They maintain soldiers only in the 
space of their dominions, the pope has his faith- 
ful militia, the Jesuits in all their dominions. The 
king's authority extends only to the exterior, and 
regulates the exterior social life. The pope's 



228 JESUITISM. 

penetrates deeper, he commands the interior; his 
empire is in the conscience. 

AVhat an immense power, what an inconceiva- 
ble influence ! If the whole world were Koman 
Catholics, the pope would command the world, 
and all the millions of ministers would be under 
his authority, directed by his will, and all would 
be obliged to promote the interest of Rome. If 
the whole world, (I repeat,) would be Eoman 
Catholic, it would shake, subjugate and corrupt 
the world, as it did for ages, and is now actually 
doing in Europe. 

Americans ! Protestants ! not to know how to 
foresee, is not to know how to govern, or how to 
profit by the past, or to judge the world. Have 
you no APOSTOLICAL Vicars in the United States, 
w^ho have no other mission than to promote the 
private interest of Rome ? Have you a right to 
choose bishops for your country as is the case in 
Europe ? No 1 In France, Prussia, Bavaria, 
Saxony, and even in Austria, the kings and the 
emperor choose their own bishops ; no govern- 
ment, or power w^ould accept a bishop in its do- 
minion, who was not elected by them. The pope 
MUST sanction it; I say, the pope must sanction 
their choice, and if he refuses to give his consent 



JESUITISM. 229 

they compel His Holiness to do so, as it was in 
Prussia with the arch-bishop of Cologne,^ and in 
H angaria with the Primate of that country.^ But 
for the wants of America the pope, graciously 
provides, he sends his minions, who serve under 
his holiness' banner, and not under the starred 
flag of the Union. 

In Austria no priest can regularly officiate with- 
out being a native Austrian, or having obtained the 
imperial permission to do so. In Prussia, no 
Roman Catholic priest can take charge of a par- 
ish without being a native Prussian, or obtaining a 
special royal permission, which is not so easily 
obtained. The same cautious state policy is adop- 

^The bishop of Cologne introduced the anti-social 
order of Gregory XVI. in his diocese, viz: not lo 
celebrate the ceremony of marriage in case of mixed 
marriages; the kinor of Prussia ordered him to chancre 
his course, audas the bishop of Cologne would not obey 
His Majesty's cammand, he was put into prison, and 
in spite of the pope he was unhishoped by the king of 
Prussia; the same course did the king pursue with 
the bishop of Posen in Silesia. 

^iWr. Rudnay, bishop of Weszprim, in Hungfary, is 
a very libera] man, and advocated at the Diet the 
cause of the Prottstants, and obtained many privileges 
for them. Bishop Rudnay was elected Primate of 
Huno^ary by His Catholic and Apostolic Majesty the 
Emperor of Austria; but the pope would not sanction 
the election of a friend of heretics. But His Catholic 
Majesty said it is his will and the pope was obliged to 
say ; Amen. 



230 JESUITISM. 

ted ill France, and in every other kingdom and 
principality of Europe, to prevent the fatal influ- 
ence of Jesuitism, which convulsed the peace of 
Europe ; which was the cause of so many wars, 
and blood-shed, of which the history of Europe 
is so unhappily full. America is the only land 
where Rome can work without impediment. 
America is the stage of papal action, where her 
hired servants, a swarm of Irish priests, German 
monks, Italian friars, and Roman Jesuits over- 
flow the country, in order to promote pope Gre- 
gory's interest, and oppress religious and politi- 
cal liberty. 

Protestants! the political regime of the United 
States pleases Rome; it gives her means of hoping 
soon to become the mistress of North, as she is 
of South America. The Roman clergy of the 
United States, like that of Ireland, is very devo- 
ted to the pope ; very rigorous and submissive to 
Rome's orders, soon she will (may ihe Lord pre- 
vent it,) occasion embarrassment to the United 
States, as that of Ireland does to the British Gov- 
ernment. 

The recent revival of this subtle and dangerous 
order, together with its widely diffused and in- 
creasing influence in the United States, makes it 



JESUITISM. 231 

desirable to give as full a view of its character 
and history as the limited space of this article 
Vi^ll aliov/. 

The Jesuits, or society of Jesus is one of the 
most celebrated monastic orders in the church of 
Rome; it was founded in the year 1540, by Igna- 
zius Loyola, sanctioned, and afterwards confirm- 
ed by Paul III., granting unto them the most am- 
ple privileges, and appointing Loyola the first 
General of the order. 

It was indeed,^ a fundamental maxim with the 
Jesuits, from their first institution, not to publish 
the rules of their order ; these they kept conceal- 
ed as an impenetrable mystery. Their constitu- 
tion and laws were concealed with such solicitude 
that this alone was a gobd reason for having ex- 
cluded them. Through the opposition, however, 
which they encountered in Portugal and in 
France, the Jesuits were obliged to produce the 
[Monita Sacra) mysterious volumes of their in- 
stitute. 

The primary object of the society was to estab- 
lish a spiritual dominion over the minds of men, 
of which the pope should appear as the ostejisi- 
ble head, while the real power should reside with 
themselves. To accomplish this object, the plan 



232 JESUITISM. 

of the constitution was difTerently shaped from 
all other monastic orders. The immediate design 
of every other religious society was to separate 
its members from the world ; that of the Jesuits, 
to render them masters of the world. The in- 
mates of other monastic convents devoted them- 
selves to work out their own soul's salvation by 
extraordinary acts of devotion and self-denial ; 
the followers of Loyola plunged themselves into 
the bustle of secular affairs to maintain the inter- 
ests of Rome. The monk was a retired devotee 
of heaven; the Jesuit a chosen soldier of the 
pope. That the members of the new order might 
have full leisure for this active service, they were 
exempted from the usual functions of other monks. 
They were not required to spend their time in the 
long ceremonial offices and numberless mumme- 
ries of the Romish worship. They attended no 
processions and practiced no austerities. They 
neither chanted nor prayed. Their antagonists 
said : " that they cannot sing, for birds of prey 
never do." They were sent forth to watch every 
transaction of the world which might appear to 
effect the interests of papal Rome, and were espe- 
cially enjoined to study the dispositions and culti- 
vate the friendship of persons in the higher ranks. 



JESUITISM. 233 

Jesuits are open and liberal in the external aspect 
of their institution, yet nothing can be more strict 
and secret than its internal organization. Loyola 
influenced perhaps by the notions of implicit 
obedience which he had derived from his military 
profession, resolved that the government of the 
Jesuits should be absolutely monarchical under 
a general at Rome who governs as he pleases. 
To accomplish the vast designs o.f this society, it 
was indispensably necessary that the whole body 
should have one mind, that all its members should 
be indissolubly united to the head, and this by the 
obligation of unreserved obedience. Ignazius goes 
so far in a letter of his, directed to his associates 
in 1553, on the subject of obedience, that he com- 
mands them to receive any and every order given 
by a superior without distinction, and to receive 
it as a divine precept^ to be observed without dis- 
cussion. The general has the direction of all 
missions and the control of the property of the 
society ; as it is necessary that he should know 
the character of those whom he sends out ; the 
confession is no secrecy, the very desires of the 
heart are made known and recorded, so that they 
can be at any time reported to the general ; the 
talents of each are also noticed with care, that a 



234 JESUITISM. 

man unfit- for the station may not be sent. A con- 
stant communication is kept up between the dif- 
ferent branches of the order, of the most minute 
character ; to effect which, and for the better re- 
gulating the concerns, -a, provincial is placed over 
a certain district as overseer, who inspects and re- 
ports all things to the general at Rome. For fear 
that the provincial sliould prove unfaithful, or fail 
to communicate, the superiors of the houses, col- 
leges, convents, and the masters of novices are 
compelled to write every three months to the 
general ; tlie provincials monthly ; in return he 
must write to the provincials every two months, 
and to the superiors every six. Tiie provincial 
has the power over the superiors, directs, com- 
mands, controls without being responsible to any 
man, except to the general. In order to render 
these correspondences secret and certain, the gen- 
eral can withdraw any Jesuit from under the pow- 
er of a rector or provincial and bring him near 
himself. Every Jesuit can correspond with the 
general on things pertaining to the interest of the 
society. In certain matters which require great 
secrecy, the correspondence is in ciphers, of 
which the general has the key. 



JESUITISM. 235 

Extensive as their missions and numerous as 
their colleges are, the boast of a general in the 
seventeenth century might be considered true : 
" that he from his closet governed not only Paris, 
but China, and not only China, but the world, 
without any one knowing how it was done." 
The general is served by a cabinet of faithful 
minions who communicate to him information on 
every subject connected with the advantage or in- 
jury of their order, the civil and religious con- 
cerns of EVERY country, the friends and foes in 
every court. 

The maxims of policy adopted by this cele- 
brated society were, like its constitution, remark- 
able for their union of laxity and rigor. Nothing 
could divert them from their original object, and 
no means were ever scrupled which promised to 
aid its accomplishment. They were in no degree 
shackled by prejudice, superstition or real religion. 
Expediency in its most simple and licentious 
form was the basis of their morals, and their prin- 
ciples and practices were uniformly accommodated 
to the circumstances in which they were placed, 
and even their bigotry, obdurate as it was, never 
appears to have interfered with their interests. 
The paramount and characteristic principle of tha 



236 JESUITISM. 

order, from which none of its members ever 
swerved was simply this, that their interests were 
to be promoted by all possible means, at all pos- 
sible expense. In order to acquire more easily 
an ascendency over persons of rank and power, 
they propagated a system of the most relaxed 
morality, which accommodated itself to the pas- 
sions of men, justified their vices, tolerated their 
imperfections, and authorized almost every action 
which the most audacious or crafty politician 
would wish to perpetrate. To persons of stricter 
principles, they studied to recommend themselves 
by the purity of their lives and sometimes by the 
austerity of their doctrines. While sufficiently 
compliant in the treatment of immoral practices, 
they were generally rigidly severe in exacting a 
strict orthodoxy in opinions. '< They are a sort 
of people (says the Abbe Boileau) who lengthen 
the creed and shorten the decalogue,'*^ They 
adopted the same spirit of accommodation in their 
missionary undertakings; and their Christianity 
assumed the color of every religion where it hap- 
pened to be introduced, except that of real Chris- 
tianity. They freely permitted their converts to 
retain a full proportion of the old superstitions, 
and suppressed without hesitation any point in 



JlEStJITlSM. 2S1 

iile new faith which was likely to bear hard on 
their prejudices or propensities* They proceeded 
to still greater lengths ; and besides suppressing 
the truths of revelation, devised the most absurd 
falsehoods, to be used for attracting disciples, oi* 
even to be taught as part of Christianity i One of 
them in India produced a pedigree to prove his 
own descent from Brama ; and another in America 
assured a native chief that Christ had been a vali- 
ant and victorious warrior, who in the space of 
three years, had scalped an incredible number of 
men, women and children. It was, in fact, their 
own authority, not the authority of true religion 
which they wished to establish, and Christianity 
was generally as little known when they quitted 
the foreign scenes of their labors as when they 
entered them. 

To carry siich principles into practice, morali^ 
ty and religion they niust have forgotten. No 
man could have acted upon them who took the 
Bible for his standard of morals ; a new code was 
necessary, and such we find among them; one 
which any man possessing the least principle o^ 
morality would blush at, and be ashamed to ac- 
knowledge. The world, the whole world has fixed 
such an indelible stigma upon them for their prin- 



338 JESUITISM. 

ciples, that they will not own them, aiid tliej^ 
never attempted to reply to all the accusations of 
which the order has been the subject; they never 
could exculpate themselves, for their own writers 
have exhibited their doctrines and morals, and 
from them I will give some specimens in order to 
show what they have been, what they are, and 
would be if they could. I will give not only the 
names of the authors, but the chapters, and even 
the pages containing these corrupt principles^ 
taught by the Jesuits as doctrinal points. 

Pascal, a Jansenist, a man of piety, but ivho 
never separated from the church, and died in thd 
pale of the church of Rome, says : Let. 5, p. 70, 
77, " an opinion is probable, if only one authoi*, 
or one single divine, or one reason which we 
think good, maintains it." *' Of two probable 
opinions we may choose the one we like best, 
though it may be the least probable." This is 
acting according to the declaration of a Jesuit, 
tnentioned by Pascal, " finding their morals too 
strict for the people, they had brought them dowtl 
to suit every one." In the Let. 7, p. 101 and 
102, "you may kill false witnesses, or a judge, 
who is going to decide against yoti." In page 
107, " you may kill one who is going to calum-^ 



JESUITISM. 230 

lliate you, so that you may hinder the calumny 
from circulating." In Let. 8, p. 113, " Judge e^ 
(though positively prohibited by the law of God, 
and the laws of the land) may receive bribes." 
Sanchez the standard of moral theology of the 
order of Jesus, one of their greatest theologians, 
says, Book I. chap. 10, no. 12, 13, p. 46. " Ail 
oath obliges not beyond the intention of him, who 
takes it, because he who hath no intention to 
swear, cannot be obliged in conscience to any-^ 
thing." See Pascal, p. 135, on mental reserva^ 
tion. Saurez another prominent writer of the 
Jesuits, and chief moral theologian, says, in the 
practice of the love of God: "It is enough to 
love him a little before we die," Ibid. Let. 10, p. 
154. Vasquez, also a standard writer of the or-^ 
der of Loyola adds: "it is enough to love hint 
at the point of death; we are not so much com- 
manded to love God, as not to hate him." Oth^ 
ers teach, "That to love God at baptism is 
enough," The last I shall allude to is on Cal- 
umny, p. 238. "To calumniate any man who is 
obnoxious to the order, is no sin." According to 
their doctrines, they were permitted to calumni- 
ate and slander every one who differs from them. 
These are the doctrines of the followers of Ign'a* 



240 JESDITISM. 

sjius Loyola, who style themselves the order of 
Jesus! Paganism would blush. 

Is it a wonder, that men without anv moral 
principle, with vigorous elTorts, trained and dis- 
ciplined men, the end always sanctifying the 
means, no barrier hindering, no law which they 
would not evade, no artifice to which they would 
not resort, nothing too low or base, nothing so 
dangerous but they were bound by oath to attempt 
if ordered by their General, — is it any wonder 
that such men would not stop at anything ? What 
have they not accomplished ? How numerous 
have their colleges become ? How great their 
wealth, and their power ! their licentiousness and 
corruption ! Intrigue, usurpation and tyranny 
have followed wherever they have bent their 
course. George Bronswell, the Catholic arch* 
bishop of Dublin, in 1558 from a knowledge of 
their principles, prophesied of them as follows : 
" There is a fraternity which has lately risen, 
called the Jesuits, who will seduce many; who, 
acting for the most part like scribes and pharisees, 
will strive to overturn the truth, they will go near 
to accomplish their object, for they transform 
themselves into various shapes ; among Pagans, 
4hey will be Pagans ; among atheists, atheists ; 



JESUITISM. 241 

among Jews, Jews; among Reformers, Reform- 
•ers, for the sole purpose of discovering your in» 
tentions, your hearts and your desires. These 
persons are spread over the whole earth. They 
will be admitted into the councils of princes, 
who will, however, be no wiser for their intro- 
duction ; they will infatuate them so far as to in- 
<luce them to reveal the greatest secrets of their 
hearts : they will in no way be aware of them. 
This will be the consequence of their advisers 
neglecting to observe the laws of God and his 
gospel, and conniving at the sins of princes. Not- 
withstanding, God will in the end, in order to 
avenge his law, cut off this society, even by 
those who have most supported and employed it; 
«o that at last, they will become odious to all na- 
tions." ' 

The following historical facts have confirmed 
the above. In the year 1540, when they ''peti- 
tioned Paul III. to establish or sanction their or- 
der, they were only ten in number. In 1543 
they were not more than twenty-four. In 1545 
they had only ten houses ; but in 1549, they had 
two provinces ; one in Spain, the other in Portugal, 
and also twenty-two houses. At the death of Igna- 

iVaran's Annals of Ireland, 
21 



242 JESUITISM. 

zius Loyola in 1556, they had twelve large pro- 
vinces. In 1608, there were reckoned twenty - 
nine provinces, and two vice provinces, twenty- 
one houses of professions, two hundred and nine- 
ty-three colleges, thirty-three houses of proba- 
tion, ninety-three other residences, and ten thous- 
and five hundred and eighty-one Jesuits. In the 
catalogue, printed at Rome in 1629, are found 
thirty-five provinces, two vice provinces, thirty- 
three houses of profession, five hundred and sev- 
enty-eight colleges, forty-eight houses of proba- 
tion, eighty-eight seminaries, one hundred and 
sixty residences, one hundred and six mission 
stations, and in all seventeen thousand six hun- 
dred and fifty five Jesuits, of whom seven thous- 
sand eight hundred and seventy were priests. At 
last, in 1710, they had twenty-four houses of pro- 
fession, fifiy-nine houses of probation, three hun- 
dred and forty residences, six hundred and twelve 
colleges, of which about eighty were in France ; 
two hundred mission stations, one hundred and 
fifty-seven seminaries and boarding houses, and 
nineteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight 
Jesuits. The houses of profession were for Jes 
nits of the first order who could hold no proper- 
ty, but were dependent on charity. The houses 



JESUITISM. 243 

df residence or probation were for those of the 
Second order, who could hold any amount. Many 
of these houses are said to have equaled in splen- 
dor the palaces of the kings and princes of France* 
A late writer says : "At the abolition of this or- 
der, their property Was found to exceed ten times 
the papal treasury at its most flourishing and afflu- 
ent petiod, and yet no money scarcely was found 
in their establishment, owing no doubt to theii? 
precaution to secret it for future purposes/' 

American Protestants, you are the most favor- 
ed nation upon this hemisphere, having the 
privilege to breathe the free air of republicanism 
and enjoy the blessings of a sound political con- 
stitution ; let the history of the past be the guide 
for the future, let the experience of the past not 
be lost, but a lesson for the future. Read the 
plots, intrigues, and assassinations, which occu- 
py no small part of the history of Jesuits. They 
were implicated in the assassination of Henry III. 
of France; they planned the Spanish armada; 
often attempted the life of Elizabeth of England ; 
devised the gimpowder plot ; instigated the mur- 
der of Henry IV of France ; eflected the revo- 
cation of the edict of Nantz, and the persecution 
of Protestants following on it, [one of the most 



§44 JESUITISM. 

bloody and disgraceful pictures in the histOfy df^ 
the world,] ruined James II, and in short, were 
deeply engaged in all the atrocities and miseries, 
which desolated Europe during nearly two hun- 
dred years. So atrocious, extensive, and contin- 
ual were their crimes, that they were expelled^ 
either partially or wholly from all the different 
countries of Europe. They were expelled from 
England by proclamation of James I in 1604^ 
The king of Portugal was assassinated, and Mal^ 
agrida and a few more of those holy fathers were 
charged with advising and absolving the assassins, 
and having been found guilty, were condemned to 
the stake. The rest were banished with infamy, 
and even treated with the most iniquitous cruelty* 
On the sixth of August, 1752, their institute was 
condemned by the parliament of France, as con- 
trary to the laws of the State, to the obedience 
due to the sovereign, and to the welfare of the 
kingdom. The order was dissolved, and their 
effects alienated. But in certain quarters, where 
the provincial parliaments had not decided against 
them, Jesuits still existed, and a royal edict was 
afterwards promulgated, which formally abolished 
the society in France* 



JESUITISM. 245 

In Spain, where they conceived their establish- 
ment to be perfectly secure, they experienced an 
overthrow equally complete, and much more un- 
expected. At midnight, March 31, in the year 
1767, large bodies of military surrounded the six 
colleges of the Jesuits in Madrid, forced the gates, 
secured the bells, collected the fathers in the re- 
fectory, and read to them the king's order for 
their instant transportation. They were immedi- 
ately put into carriages, previously placed at pro- 
per stations, and were on their way to Carthage- 
na before the inhabitants of the city had any in- 
telligence of the transaction. Three days after, 
the same measures were adopted with regard to 
every other college of the order in the kingdom ; 
and ships having been provided at the different 
sea-ports, they were all embarked for the ecclesi- 
astical states of Italy. All their property was 
confiscated, and a small pension assigned to each 
individual, as long as he should reside in a place 
appointed, and satisfy the Spanish court as to his 
peaceable demeanor. All correspondence with 
the Jesuits was prohibited, and the strictest silence 
on the subject of their expulsion was enjoined 
under penalties of high treason. A similar seiz- 
ure and deportation took place in the Indies, and 



246 JESUITISM. 

an immense property was acquired by the govern- 
ment. The example of the kmg of Spain, was 
immediately followed by Ferdinand VI. of Na- 
ples, and soon after by the prince of Parma and 
Piacenza. They were expelled from Venice in 
1606; from Antwerp in 1518; from Hungary 
and Germany their banishment was demanded 
above all other things. At Vienna they were ex- 
pelled without judicial forms, and in Bordeaux 
for conspiracy. The same from Bohemia, in the 
year 1618. Mr, Be Prat^ a Roman arch-bishop 
of Malines, says : " Thirty-nine times they have 
been banished and expelled, prior to their aboli- 
tion in the year 1773, by Ganganelli, [Clem- 
ent XIV.] 

Their abolition was not a work of haste. Ac- 
cording to the life of this pope, published in the 
year 1776, he spent four years deliberately exam- 
ining the history of this order. He searched the 
archives of the Propaganda, for the documents 
relating to their missions, the accusations against 
and apologies for them ; desirous of being correct 
in the matter of his condemnation, he communi- 
cated his brief, privately to several cardinals and 
theologians as well as to some sovereigns, &c., 
before he promulgated it. He then decided on 



JESUITISM. 247 

the abolition, but not without considering the con- 
sequences to himself. He believed it would be 
death to him ; when he signed the instrument, he 
is reported to have said: '* TVie suppression is 
accomplishecL I do not repent of it, having only 
resolved on it, after examining and zveighing 
every thing, and because I thought it necessary 
for the church. If it were not done, I would do 
it now; but this suppression will be my 
DEATH." The initial letters of a Pasquinade ap- 
peared on St. Peter's church, which he interpret- 
ed : " The Holy See vnll be vacant in Sept em- 
ber,^^ which was verified in his death on the 
twenty-second of that month, 1774, attended with 
every symptom of poison. Thus ended for the 
time being the order of Jesuits, and thus too the 
man that dared to stop them in their course of in- 
iquity. It is not saying too much, if we consult 
history and experience, that another so infamous 
a class of men never lived. 

To show the reader that this is not my private 
opinion, or the opinion of their enemies, or of the 
Protestant heretics (as they call us) but that of 
the secret colleo;e in Conclave, who have ever in- 
tertained the same opinion of that pernicious or- 
der; it is well known to the reader, as well as to 



248 JESUITISM. 

the world at large, that the Jesuits had the most 
learned cardinals in the church of Home, more 
than any other monastic order, and with all their 
intrigues they could never get a pope in their or- 
der as others had, and never will obtain one. It 
is a common saying in Rome ; 

" Non date le xihiavi a Jesu, 
Perche non vi le rendera piu." 
in plain English it is : '' Give not the keys to a 
Jesuit for he will never return them again." 

Before I conclude I will give a short description 
of the essential evils of the society of Ignazius 
Loyola. Their essential principles are, that their 
order is to be maintained at the expense of society 
at large, and that the end sanctifies the means^ 
These principles are utterly incompatible with 
the welfare of any community of men. Their 
system of lax and pliant morality justifying every 
vice and authorizing every atrocity, has left deep 
and lasting ravages on the face of the moral worhL 
Their zeal to extend the jurisdiction of the cour:t 
of Rome over every civil government, gave cur- 
rency to tenets respecting the duty of opposing^ 
princes who were hostile to the papal creeds 
which shook the basis of all political allegiance- 
and loosened the obligations of every human law. 



JESUITISM. 249 

Their indefatigable industry and countless artifices 
in resisting the progress of the Protestant religion, 
perpetuated the most pernicious errors of popery, 
and postponed the triumph of tolerant and chris- 
tian principles. Whence, then, it may well be 
asked, whence the recent restoration ? What 
long-latent proof has been discovered of the ex- 
cellence or even the expedience of such an insti- 
tution ? The sentence of their abolition, as we 
saw, was passed by the senates and monarchs, 
statesmen and divines of the church of Rome, by 
the pope and of almost every civilized country in 
the world. Almost every land has been stained 
and torn by their crimes ; and almost every land 
bears on its public records the most solemn protest 
against their existence. The evils of Jesuitism 
arise not from the violation of the principles of 
the order ; on the contrary, they are natural and 
necessary fruits of the system; they are confined 
to no age, place or person ; they follow, like the 
tail of the comet, the same disastrous course with 
the luminary itself; and in consequence, not this 
or that nation, but humanity, is startled at the re- 
appearance of this common enemy of man.^ 

^I would recommend to the reader, who wishes to 
have all the minute particulars of the Jesuits and Je- 

21 



MIRACLES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

I cannot conclude my volume without saying 
something for the edification of the Roman Cath- 
olics ; I say for their edification^ for nothing is 
more edifying to them than the miracles of their 
saints, as a display of the hoHness of the church 
of Rome. They I trust will not think that I 
speak in irony or ridicule ; by no means ; I will 
merely state ihem as they are. Therefore, I will 
say nothing of the feather of the angel Gabriel ; 
neither of the bottle of the Virgin Mary^s milk; 
nor of the tears of our Saviour, which are pre- 
served in the chapel of the Scala Santa in Rome* 
I will say nothing of the holy house of Loretto, 
where the Virgin Mary was born and brought up, 
and in spite of its dimensions of thirty-two feet 
long, thirteen broad and eighteen high, it was in 
a miraculous manner transported in the air with 

suitism, Edinb. British Encyclopaedia; and Encyclo- 
paedia Americana ; Mosheim Eccl. History; Harleian 
Misc., vol. V. page 566; Broughton's Diet. Works of 
Robert Hall ; New York Evangelist for 1831 ; British 
Review, &c. Bat above ail I would intreat every 
Roman Catholic to read PascaPs Provincial Letters, 
American edition, and he will learn the doctrines of 
his church, and the Protestants ought to read it in or- 
der to know what they are. 



MIRACLES. 251 

its chimney and belfry ; and according to its his- 
tory, it was several times borne aloft through the 
air and deposited in one place after another, until 
it was finally located on the spot where it now 
stands, and remained for the last six hundred 
years without a foundation ; for the account of it 
is sold in Philadelphia, and can be read by every 
pious papist to the edification of his immortal 
soul. 

Neither will I speak of *S'^. Viar, whom the 
Spaniards venerate and invoke, and whom the 
pope has canonized for the usual fee of a hundred 
thousand dollars, and at the end it turned out that 
St. Viar never existed. That the grave-stone 
which was found with the inscription S. Viar, 
does not say St. Viar, but Prefectus ViARum, 
overseer of the high ways. 

Nor do I intend to make any remark on the 
holy relic of the handkerchief of Sta. Veronica, 
in St. Peter's in Rome, upon which the original 
impression of our Saviour's face is seen, or of the 
numerous ^ve Marias and other prayers which I 
once said to that handkerchief, I am only sorry to 
say, that I have at last found out that all my Ave 
Marias were for nothing, for Sta. Veronica never 
existed, that her name was formed by blundering 



252 MIRACLES. 

and confounding the two words vera icon (triae 
image,) which the first contrivers aad impostors 
usually wrote on the paintings of the Saviour's 
image. 

Neither will I speak of St, AmpMbolis^ who, 
according to the catalogue of saints in the breviary 
was bishop of the Isle of Man, and fellow martyr 
and disciple of St. Alban. I am happy to state 
for the consolation of the Roman Catholics, that 
St. Amphibolis did not suffer martyrdom for he 
never existed ; he is a saint risen by mistake. 
This Amphibolis, though reverenced as a saint is 
nothing more than a cloak, which Alban happened 
to have at the time of his execution; Amphibolis 
being the Greek word for a rough cloak, which 
ecclesiastical persons usually wore in that age, 
just as the Romims called the cloak of senators 
and other distinguished persons, toga. (See 
arch-bishop Usher.) 

To show the Roman Catholic bretnren that I 
do not intend to ridicule, I will say nothing of 
Sta. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, who, 
on the twenty-first of October, are adored in the 
following manner : '' Permit us, we pray thee, O 
Lord our God, to venerate with unceasing devo- 



MIRACLES. 253 

tion the triumphs of the holy virgins and martyrs 
Ursula and her companions, &c." ^ 

Nor will I relate all the adventures of the seven 
holy sleepers, and accidents happening unto them 
during the time of their long rest, who slept in a 
cave for a period of three hundred and sixty-two 
years, from the time of Decius to the reign of 
Theodosius, nor of the worship which is offered 
unto them the twenty-seventh of July. 

I will at once select some miracles not of Italian 
or Portuguese saints, which the reader might sus- 
pect, but such which Bede and Southey have de- 
clared as true and authentic. 

"King Oswald set up across at Heofenpeld, 
(or Heavenfield,) and after the battle fought there, 
pieces of this cross were carried away; they were 
supposed to be perfectly efficacious in curing men 
and cattle, and of course imparting miraculous 
virtue to the water wherein they were dipt. The 
moss which grew upon it possessed equal efficacy ; 
and a brother in the monastery at Hagulstad, who 
had lost the use of his arm in consequence of a 
fracture, found it restored by sleeping with some 
of this moss in his bosom. Earth taken from 

'Breviariam Monasticum of pope Paul V., page 
676, Paris 1671. 



254 MIRACLES. 

the spot where Oswald was slain, to be adminis- 
tered in water, was in such request, that a pit had 
been excavated there five or six feet deep, by per- 
sons who came from all parts to obtain it. A 
horse recovered from a (it by falling upon the sa- 
cred spot, and the owner of the horse consequent- 
ly carried a paralitic girl thither, who fell asleep 
when she was laid upon the miraculous ground, 
and awoke in perfect health. A bag containing 
some of this earth was hung upon one of the 
posts in the wall of a house which took fire, the 
house was burned to the ground and that post 
alone remained unconsumed. When Oswald's 
bones were removed they were washed before 
they were deposited in their shrine; and the earth 
upon which the water was poured out, proved of 
sovereign efficacy in expelling evil spirits from 
possessed persons. A boy, who had an intermit- 
tent fever, was assured, that if he went to the 
shrine and remained there till the hour for thel^e- 
gular paroxism was past, the disease would leave 
him ; he went in faith ; the paroxism did not 
come at the usual time, and it returned no more." 
*' The dust from St. Chad's coffin was an ap- 
proved remedy for man and beast. Sick persons 
were healed by being placed in the horse litter 



MIRACLES. 255 

wherein Sir Erkenwal used to be carried ; but if 
they were too far away to be taken to it, a piece 
cut from the litter was taken to them, and the 
effect was the same." ^ 

" *S'^. Fursey was conducted by the angels who 
in one of his flights, commanded him to look 
down upon the earth. He discovered in the air 
four fires at a little distance from each other, these 
were kindled for the punishment of the wicked 
and finally for the destruction of the world. The 
first was the fire of lying, where men are punish- 
ed who break their baptismal vow ; the second,, 
that of covetousness ; the thirds that of dissen- 
sion ; the fourth^ that of iniquity, especially the 
sin of defrauding others. Fursey was much alarm^ 
ed at beholding the increase of these fires, and 
that they gradually approached him. The angels, 
however, silenced his fears by informing him that 
they were only intended for those who had kind- 
led them by the sins above mentioned. Accord- 
ingly, when it reached them, one of the angels 
went before him and divided the flames ; the two 
others, one on each side, warded them off to the 
right and left, and he past through unhurt, seeing 

^Southey Vindicae Ecclesiae Anglicanae, p. 133, who 
quotes from Bede's History, lib. iii. cap. 4. 



256 MIRACLES. 

on the way many devils flying about, some of 
whom pursued him with accusations. From 
thence he passed into the regions of bliss and 
found many of his friends there. On his way 
back, he was obliged to go again through the fire, 
and as he was passing again through the flames, 
the devils snatched up a soul which they ivere 
tormenting and flung it at him. This unhappy 
soul ivas so burning hot that it scorched his 
shoulder and his cheek where it touched himJ*^ * 
That is a little too tough to digest. 

" Touama, who fell in a battle, fought near 
Trent, and though left as dead, he revived, and 
was taken prisoner, whose chains fell off* every 
night to the great surprise of all. The cause of 
which was, that his brother, an abbot of Tunna- 
caster, supposing that he was dead, had said 
masses for his soul ! Touama suspected the rea- 
son, and explained the matter in this way. " When 
however, it was ascertained that the chains fell 
off" just at the time that the masses were said for 
his soul ; it had a marvellous eflect in inducing 
many to bespeak masses for their deceased 
friends." ^ 

'Bede, lib. 3, c. 19. 
'Bade, Ub. 4, c. 122. 



MIRACLES. 257 

I forbear any comment except a question which 
Southey thus puts to Mr, Butler: " Would you 
desire, Sir, a prettier sample of priestcraft and 
importance than this scheme for bringing custom 
to the mass-mongers at Tunnacaster?" ^ Such 
are a few specimens of the miracles related by 
Bede. Trusting that they have sufficiently edi- 
fied my Roman Catholic brethren, but should that 
not be the case, I will earnestly recommend them 
" the Golden LegencV^ of Jacobius de Voragine ; 
those related in the ''Speculum" of Vincentius 
Belluacensis $ and those related in the " Saints* 
Lives^^ of the patrician Metaphiastes ; those re- 
lated by Surius and Monbritius, where they will 
find the most absurd and ridiculous stories, which 
will afford them much pleasure, and great edifi- 
cation. 

Having thus edified the Roman Catholics, I 
will also amuse my Protestant readers, by rela- 
ting some miracles. St. Genajo, is the protector 
of Naples in Italy, his blood is preserved in a 
small bottle at the altar of the church of the same 
name. It is believed by every Neapolitan, and 
well known by every traveler, that the liquifac- 

^Southey Vindicae Ecclesiae Angl. p. 211. 



258 MIRACLES. 

tioii of that blood is an indication of grace and 
mercy to the inhabitants of the city, as well as to 
private individuals, who approach in faith to the 
saint. At the time when Napoleon invaded Italy, 
suppressing the convents and nunneries, carrying 
the priests and their riches to France, the few 
who remained, were as a matter of course, not 
very loyal to the emperor, they agitated in secret, 
whispered in the confessionals, into the ears of 
the Lazzaronies, that *' St. Genajo is displeased 
with the conduct of the invaders, that his blood 
did not boil during the whole time the ungodly 
French soldiers occupied the kingdom of Na- 
ples." The reader can imagine the fermentation 
of the populace, the acrimony of the devotees, 
the fears of the peaceful citizens, and satisfaction 
of the priests. The complot was organized, and 
the time of a second Sicilian vesper was appoint- 
ed, at the procession with the blood of St. Gen- 
ajo, [when all the populace, and Lazzaronies are 
gathered;] then the signal of the slaughter should 
be given. The day arrived; the high mass was 
celebrated, the blood of Genajo exposed to the 
adoration of the people; but it would not boil, 
not even liquify. The spies of the French, im- 
mediately informed the commander of the troop, 



MIRACLES. 259 

of the imminent danger, who without delay gave 
orders that the whole armory should occupy the 
principal streets of the city ; two cannons were 
planted before the door of the church of St. Gen- 
ajo, and at the different corners of the streets with 
lighted matches, and a special order to the Vicar 
of the bishops, who celebrated the mass: " That 
if in ten minutes St. Genajo should not per- 
form his usual miracle, the whole city would 
be reduced to ruiyis ;" and in five minutes the 
saint was pacified, his blood liquified and boiled. 
The " gloria in excelsis" was sung, the shouts of 
joy re-echoed in the air, and the French rejoiced 
with them, but not the disappointed priests. 

The house of Loretto is one of the richest es- 
tablishments of the pope, and the surest source 
to get money. As soon as the French troops oc- 
cupied the papal dominions. Napoleon ordered, 
*'that the silver statues representing the apostles, 
should be taken from that house and melted, and 
coined with his bust on it, in order that they 
might be faithful to the command of their Master, 
who ordered them, " to go into all the world," 
but not to remain inactive in the house of Loretto, 
and court the lady. His messengers came to the 
house, but the twelve apostles were already gone 



260 MIRACLES. 

when Napoleon was informed that the silver apos- 
tles undertook the voyage before his messengers 
arrived. He said : " never mind the apostles, I 
have the Vicar of Christ and he shall not escape," 
and carried the pope Pius VII. to France. 

" St. Anthony, the Stylite of Egypt, who lived 
upwards of thirty years on the top of a pillar, 
was considered to have attained the highest degree 
of holiness." ^ 

" A man who returned from the fiery regions 
saw the miserable wretches there unable to endure 
the heat on the right hand, throwing themselves 
into the equal torment of cold on the other." ^ 

" St. Dominick, (the author and finisher of the 
Holy Inquisition,) was such a holy man, that he 
made the fiend in the shape of a monkey, hold a 
candle for him till he burnt his fingers." 

*' At another time St. Dominick fastened the 
devil, in the shape of a flea, to a book, which he 
was reading and only allowed him to skip from 
one page to another as the saint turned over the 
leaves." 

" St. Dennis and St, Alhan carried their heads 
in their hands after they were beheaded." ^ 

^0 micron's third letter, p. 58. 

^See Release from Purgatory, p. 309. 

^Omicron's third letter, p. 64. 



MlRACLfeS. 261 

*' St. Anthony of Padua, preached on the same 
day and hour in Padua, in Italy ; in Madrid, the 
capital of Spain ; in Lisbon, the capital of Portu* 
gal and in Kome*" The apostles on the day of 
Pentecost preached in their own language, and 
were understood by all the nations at Jerusalem j 
or as some say^ they preached in the different 
languages of the people who were at Jerusalem 
St. Anthony of Padua, spoke not only Italian^ 
Spanish and Portuguese at the same time, but 
was also omnipresent in the different parts of 
Europe. 

If I would continue to relate the absurd mira- 
cles which are authenticated by the church of 
Rome, and believed by the papists 2iS facts , I 
could write a volume in folio ; but as this would 
b^ a useless expence for myself, ahd of no profit 
for my readers, I will make an appeal to the Ro- 
man Catholics as well as to Protestants The 
first I intreat not to trifle with their soul's salva- 
tion, but to inquire into the truth, to read the bible 
for in that only they will find the hidden treasurCj 
the pearl of great price, the truth as it is in Jesus. 
And if I have said any thing which might have 
wounded their feelings, I can assure them, that it 
was not my intention to attack any person or 



262 MIRACLES. 

wound any man's feelings, but enlighten those 
who know little of the intrigues of the church of 
Rome, and lead them to the pure fountain of life 
Jesus Christ. And the Protestants 1 beseech to 
pray without ceasing for the conversion of the 
church of Rome. May God grant it in his ten- 
der mercies. 

THE ENi). 



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